Little Fragments of Big Water (Portal of Prague)

Five years ago, the flood brought a lot of loss and sadness. On the other hand, this big loss - mainly material - often in the end meant improvement for people. Thanks to subsidies and loans, they had the opportunity to renovate their damaged dwellings, furnish them with new furniture and thus improve their quality of life. In the same way, some institutions - for instance the zoo - could in the end thanks to the subsidies modernize and widen their services. Let's wish for people and institutions that no other disaster similar to this occurs to them and that their (old) new homes only flourish from now on. Here are some observations of what happened during the floods or immediately after them.

Dolni Sedlec
One of the parts of Prague which was badly affected was Sedlec a small area between Prague 6 and Roztoky u Prahy. Located in the lowest point of Prague, the water level during the floods reached the highest level there - more than eleven metres. Houses of the inhabitants of Sedlec who refused to evacuate until the last minute were tumbling down as if they were made of ginger bread. After the floods, when research was carried out of the whole area of Podbaba, Ticha Sarka and Sedlec, it was in Sedlec where it was decided to pull some houses down. The fate of many was balancing on the edge. There was one more reason why the inhabitants of Sedlec were unhappy. Even though at the beginning of 1990's they have voted that they wanted Sedlec to be joined to Suchdol instead of Prague 6, it was Prague 6 which during the floods helped them the most in the end. That is why two years later - at the beginning of 2004 - they asked the authority of Prague 6 to become a part of their city district again. Thus, after fifteen years, Dolni Sedlec became a part of Prague 6 again.

Semafor Theatre
'Thanks to' the floods, the legendary Semafor Theatre got its permanent and completely new stage. After the place in Karlin had been completely ruined, an agreement was passed with Prague 6 and a new place was designated for the theatre in a completely renovated basement in Dejvicka Street. Thus since 2006 the Semafor Theatre operates there.

Stromovka
The biggest green park in Prague, Stromovka, was not spared either. A water level of approximately two metres was measured there and almost everything was devastated. Gradually, the paths were repaired, new wood planted and Stromovka got more of its original character - the character of a flood-plain forest. Its dendrological composition should be much more resistant to eventual floods.

Karlin
One of the first buildings to be pulled down was the building in Sokolovska Street right opposite the metro station Florenc. There was a ceramic shop in it which has never been renewed again.

Sova Mills
Costly renovation of Sova Mills finished just before the big flood's arrival. The benefactress and the gallery's proprietor Meda Mladkova had planned its solemn opening with a celebration for the unlucky Tuesday 13 August. However, the flood came and thus there was no party and all the pieces of art had to be moved to the upper floors. The gigantic chair which until that time embellished the water front floated away and several days later it was fished out many kilometers away from Prague, fortunately without any damage to it. Until now it has been one of the symbols of the floods of 2002.

Laughable Moments

On 13th August, all TV channels broadcasted an irresponsible person who 'surfed' on the raging waters of the Vltava with a very critical commentary. It came out later on that the poor man was definitely not surfing, a jetty got loose and he was desperately waving at everybody from this piece of wood in hope that somebody would help him. It eventually happened and the man was saved.
Both in their dwellings and outside, people were finding not only damaged property wherever the water got into but also things which were moved unwillingly. Fridges on top of cupboards became common place. A merry incident happened to two owners of neighbouring pieces of land. There was a summer cottage on one of them and nothing but land on the other. However, everything changed after the flood - the cottage moved from its original position to the other piece of land. It took a long time for the owners to solve the problem whether the cottage should be moved back or whether they should just exchange their pieces of land.