Land below:The flood of the century on the Elbe

Heavy rain causes the Elbe and its tributaries to swell in August 2002. With hundreds of thousands of sandbags, helpers are trying to protect the towns in the north from the flood. In eastern Germany, deaths and devastating damage are part of the sad balance sheet.

by Kathrin Weber

August 2002:Summer weather is fine in many parts of Germany, but things are brewing in some regions in the east and south-east. Instead of sunshine, rain comes from heaven, lots of rain. In Zinnwald-Georgenfeld in the eastern Ore Mountains, 312 liters of precipitation per square meter fell on August 12 - as much as usual in three months.

Saxony hit hardest with 21 deaths

It is also raining heavily in other parts of Saxony, in Bavaria and in the Czech Republic. The result:barrages overflow, the level of the Elbe and its tributaries rise sharply. Small streams become torrents. Numerous places and regions are flooded. Saxony is hit the hardest. Many places are cut off from the outside world, people have to be rescued from the water masses by helicopter.

Parts of Dresden have to be evacuated

In Dresden, a tidal wave rolled through the main train station, the university clinic had to be evacuated, and many buildings - including the Semperoper, the picture gallery in the Zwinger and the state parliament - were under water. Pirna and Meissen are also flooded. 21 people die in the disaster in Saxony alone. Altogether at least 45 people will fall victim to the floods in Central Europe.

Cities on the Elbe are preparing for the tsunami

From Saxony, the tidal wave rolls north across Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. Authorities and residents there are alarmed and are preparing for the worst. In Amt Neuhaus, helpers raise the old GDR dikes, which have not yet been completely renewed, with sandbags. In the Elbtalaue campsites are cleared and the cattle are driven from the pastures. In Hitzacker, the 500 residents of the unsecured old town secure their houses with wooden panels, brick up doors and windows and take valuables to higher floors. The residents of Elbstrasse in Lauenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, do the same. Mayor Harald Heuer has a queasy feeling and fears a "catastrophe".

Counties trigger disaster alerts

In all northern German states, the fire brigade, armed forces and aid organizations are on alert. Authorities are preparing evacuation plans and distributing hundreds of thousands of sandbags. Everyone looks spellbound at the rising water level, in Hitzacker the water rises about ten centimeters per hour. On August 18, the affected districts of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Schleswig-Holstein), Ludwigslust (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) and Lüneburg and Lüchow-Dannenberg (Lower Saxony) trigger a disaster alarm.

The water comes, the dikes hold

On August 21, the tidal wave first reached Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Lower Saxony, and a little later Schleswig-Holstein. However, the water does not rise as high as feared. Nevertheless, the Elbe villages in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania between Dömitz and Boizenburg, some surrounding villages and the Neuhaus district are being evacuated because the authorities expect the dikes to break. The residents of Lauenburg's lower town are also asked to leave their homes. In Hamburg, only a few residents in the Vier- and Marschlande have to vacate their summer houses. The city itself is not threatened by flooding because the Elbe becomes wider and deeper behind the weir in Geesthacht and the extensive water areas of the port offer the water enough space to spread out.

Hizacker's exposed old town is under water

In contrast, the unprotected old town of Hitzacker was about 1.50 meters under water on August 22nd. Although the water levels are no longer rising, the tension in the communities on the Elbe and its tributaries is still great because the water is pressing against the softened dikes. In many places - for example between Dömitz and Boizenburg - it seeps through, assistants improve the places. Only in Laasche, a town of 26 in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, has the effort been in vain - the dyke breaks there and floods the town. Otherwise, the dykes withstand the pressure - not only because the tidal wave is slowly weakening, but also because five Havel polders were opened in Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt and water could flow out there. As of August 25, levels are falling faster than expected, allowing counties to lift disaster alerts as early as August 27.

Elbe flood becomes Germany's most expensive natural disaster

Destroyed roads and railway bridges, damaged dikes, residential and commercial buildings, fields whose harvest can no longer be used:the 2002 Elbe flood is considered the most expensive natural disaster in German history to date. The total damage is 11.6 billion euros - an immense sum, of which 8.6 billion are attributable to damage in Saxony alone. Only a small part of it is covered by insurance. However, the affected households, companies and farmers are not left without support; they receive immediate aid to make ends meet and to repair the worst damage. The federal government, the federal states, the municipalities and the EU are providing ten billion euros. The federal and state governments are postponing the second stage of the tax reform by one year, from 2003 to 2004. This will raise around 7.1 billion euros for the "Aufbauhilfe" fund.

Enormous willingness to help and donate

The willingness to donate is also enormous:whether companies, associations or private individuals - everyone shows solidarity. "I have decided to make a donation and I hope that some will join me," says Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, giving a million for the flood victims. Many do the same. Financial help even comes from abroad. The German Red Cross alone collects around 146 million euros from over 1.3 million donors in a gigantic fundraising campaign. A total of a good 500 million euros are received in the various donation accounts.

Investments in flood protection are ramped up

After the catastrophe, the question arises not only of claims settlement, but also of the causes. How did it even come to this? For many environmental experts and politicians, one thing is certain:human intervention in nature makes a significant contribution to this. Straightened river courses, more and more sealed areas, soil erosion and deforestation promote natural disasters such as the Elbe flood in 2002.

After the flood, a lot of money is invested in the construction and renewal of dikes, walls and retention basins and the reporting system is improved. But the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) (Bund for the Environment and Nature Conservation) draws a critical balance sheet ten years after the flood:"After the flood of the century in 2002, the federal government and the Elban riparian state governments promised the press to give the rivers more space. And they hardly had the press room left, the promise was already forgotten", said the then BUND chairman Hubert Weiger. None of the measures implemented to date would come close to being able to absorb the water masses of 2002.

Climate change will continue to favor flooding in the future

As a result, the federal and state governments continue to invest in flood protection. Extreme weather conditions caused by climate change, among other things, mean that even after the flood of the century in 2002, serious flooding has become a regular phenomenon that is now almost annual.

The German insurance industry is also less optimistic, expecting a significant increase in catastrophe losses. A climate study published in 2018 by the German Insurance Association (GDV) assumes that the damage caused by flooding will double or even triple by the end of this century - depending on the underlying climate model.