“Hopefully, it won’t get worse,” said everyone affected by floods. The Vltava River has over flooded its left bank. The rescuers and volunteers have been building flood defences. At present the Old Town is still holding out. Cars parked in streets threatened by flooding are being towed away. There are only a few hours left until two o’clock when the river water level should peak. In the past few days the first good news is that the water level of the Berounka River has fallen as well as the outflow from Orlicka dam.
Meanwhile water has got over flood defence barriers made of sandbags, it has flooded into the basements of Smichov district and is progressing towards the very heart of Smichov. The flood is becoming an attraction to many people as they have nothing else to do. Anyway their workplaces are surrounded by water. People are trying to get to places where the river is easily visible from. The situation benefits local taxi drivers, who have basically replaced public transport. But to drive a car in Prague can be rather exhausting at the moment and it is easier simply to walk. Many people are cycling, it is much faster.
Only now Pražská plynárenská announces a state of emergency and cuts off the gas supply in affected areas. “Gas supply cuts concern parts of Smíchov, Kampa and Malá Strana (Lesser Town), Nové Město and few areas in Holešovice,“ informs Dagmar Hartmanova, the spokesperson of Pražská plynárenská. Life outside of the flooded zones is not disrupted. And as it is still not clear up to where the water level could reach if it continues to rise, the flood crew are considering closing The Old Town Square. There are also some threats that levees could burst open and swamp The Old Town. If this happened, there would be more water on the Old Town Square than in 1890. The photographs from that year picture boats floating on that very square and the clock, which ceased to show time.
Whither and How
Even though the water levels were rising all morning, the city transportation system is rather stable at the moment. Buses have replaced tram services in areas where this was possible. Railways have also been increasingly coming into play. České dráhy set up a shuttle service between the Main Station and Smíchov Station replacing metro. Trains run every half an hour. Masaryk Railway Station has been finally opened as water stopped on Poříčí Street.
Connections between Prague and other surrounding cities have been paralysed since the Florence bus station is submerged under water.
Another bit of bad news comes at 12 o’clock. Tram services have been disrupted in the whole city due to electricity cuts. Pražská energetika, similarly to Pražská plynárenská, for the first time in its history announced a state of emergency.
First Estimates
Just one glance at Štvanice Island is enough to know that tennis will not be played there for quite some time in future. Also the skateboarding park has perished. Astonishingly, the summer stadium, provisionally built in 1949, has remained in perfect condition. Emergency crews from Prague 7 are short of motorboats and plead the public for any kind of boat so that they could evacuate senior citizens out of a local retirement home. Even rowers, who were in the middle of preparations for the World Championship, are expecting firemen to lend them a boat so that they could rescue their centre’s new roof. The water has damaged other sports fields such as a softball pitch in Troja and the equipment of artificial kayak canal Troja. Water sportsmen are deeply affected as Podolí dock has been completely wrecked. Moreover, somebody tried to break into the Podolí swimming pool. Water also flooded into the basements of the National Theatre. It crept insidiously from underground and got into the rooms where the theatre’s foundation stones can be seen.
ZOO – Another Big Story
Just after the elephant Kahira had to be put down, more bad news is on the way. The seal male, Gaston, has escaped from Prague zoo and is making his way towards the sea. He was a public favourite already before the floods, now his popularity is even greater than ever. His partner, Julinka, the mother of Melounek (Little Melon), fled with him. The news about their journey is coming in from Melnik and Kralupy, they are being successfully filmed too. Gaston will keep swimming another 400 kilometres until he is completely exhausted, he gave up in Germany. Animal handlers already feel he will not make it back home. Gaston dies from infection and complete exhaustion as he is being transported to Prague. One happy ending is a story of Julinka, who got stranded in branches near a bridge in Kralupy. Another seal, Myska, makes it all the way to Horni Berkovice, where he lands near a wall of the local castle garden. Local firemen fence it in using ladders and call the zoo. But the animal is so nervous that it severely bites one of the firemen. The surviving female seal and its young one Melounek will return to their own pool in Prague zoo no sooner than 30th of August.
The Ultimate Height
Water levels culminated just before 2 pm. Holesovice disappeared under water, water also swamped a branch of the Municipal Library with its many precious prints. Botel Racek in Podoli remains cut off. A large chair made by an artist Magdalena Jetelova disappeared from Museum Kampa. Later it will be found in Germany. Palace Lažanský, where FAMU is based, suffered incalculable damage as a collection of rare films were destroyed by running water. An oriental art collection in castle Zbraslav was luckily saved as well as a Naprstkovo Museum collection of Asian art in the castle Libechov, where exhibits were moved to upper floors. The same unfortunately cannot be said about National Technical Museum depositories, which were concentrated in Karlin’s Invalidovna. There water ruined precious archive materials which will take years to be restored.
Furniture flooded out from local restaurants gathered at Kampa. Somebody calls for help at Tišnov and the police save a woman and her two cats. According to official information released by the City Hall 45, 000 people were evacuated in last few days. Unless it rains again, evacuees will be able to return back home in five days. But some of them will never return to their own flats as some buildings did not resist the pressure and collapsed. The water level in Chuchle reached eight metres. It is long time after the levels peaked. Shocking news that tube was flooded began to emerge. Allegedly, it is metro station Ivalidovna that a pressure valve broke. No one knows that all together there are 16 stations under water and that the loss will be counted in billions of crowns.
Karlín and Sedlec Just like Venice
A man in a canoe arrived at Florenc after few hours of paddling in Karlin. People are eager to know the news. “Water usually reaches first floors, a vast amount of water is close to a school on Tyčkovo Square and the radio building is completely destroyed” nods the kayak-paddler. Meanwhile other boats are passing by with evacuees from many of Karlin houses. Florence bus station is still under water and the water level might even have risen a bit. The Czech Statistical Office is also filled with water. The lower reach of Vltava does not look quite all right either: parts of Podbaba, Lysolaj valley and Sedlec are all swamped with water. “All evacuated citizens will be visited by a GP and a psychologist” says the mayor of Prague 6 Pavel Bem. All people from Prague 6, who had to leave their homes, are gathered at stadium Juliska. Around 2 pm the emergency crew announces a critical situation on Jindřich Plachta Street as sandbags barriers burst open and water is approaching Anděl. Eventually it stopped just 150 metres before the major Anděl crossing. Policemen and firemen spend a majority of time rescuing those who previously had refused to leave their homes. They continue to work mainly in Karlín and Smíchov. First good news in this tense day is when Radotin municipality manages to distribute two thousands rolls and 150 loafs of bread into threaten areas. Also in parts of Radotin electricity was restored.
President Look around Prague, Water Recedes
The flood put an end to the president Václav Havel’s Portuguese holiday. He hurried from the airport directly to Holešovice. There he talked to people who were leaving Husarova Street in boats. Then he left for Charles Bridge, Mala Strana and Kampa.
Late in the afternoon water started to recede. This is also visible in Karlin, where rescuers continue to evacuate those who on Tuesday refused to leave. Three days after the beginning of the flood, rescuers save another hundred of people.
The news about the bad state of several buildings is being spread and people fear that they might collapse. They do not know yet, how legitimate their concerns are.
Optimism swept through the public as water started to recede. But city mayor cools down their enthusiasm: “At the moment people are not allowed to return back home“.
The restoration of electricity as well as sewerage is an ultimate condition for safe return. “Threat is still here” declares Němec and adds: “water is receding quickly only from the embankment, Kampa or Troja. But Karlin will be under water for at least another week and the stability of many buildings could be impaired.”
Really Recedes
Water is clearly disappearing. Its borders are marked by lines of rubbish. The fall of the water levels was confirmed by rescuers in Karlin too, though it is not as striking there. The Old Town is definitely spared. But the damage caused by underground water is incalculable. Club Roxy was destroyed. Only several historical puppets made by the founder of the theatre Říše loutek were saved. All halls and the whole the ground floor of the Municipal Library are filled with water. Water slowly recedes from Holešovice Market back to the river Vltava. Stromovka is closed for security reasons as some fear that soaked trees could fall. A man clinging to a tree trunk was flown to Prague from Lahvovice. Policemen dragged him out and transported him with severe hypothermia immediately to hospital.
When asked about rough estimates of damage caused by the flood, Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla answers: “The damage is bigger than in 1997 after floods in Moravia.” But Prague’s City hall representatives are more specific and estimate that the Big Water will cost Prague hundreds of billions.