Sad to see the news and pictures from Rhineland and neighbouring regions. I hope all our German friends and families stay safe.

What a disaster this is turning into and sad scenes on the TV, we can but hope the missing 70 are found safe somewhere.

It looks horrible and seems to have surprised the weather forecasters & the authorities.

Indeed, it is a very serious disaster that is unfolding now. It must be horrible to have to go through this.
An enourmous amount of rain was dropped in the area of the Rhine and Meuse. Besides Germany, Belgium and the south of The Netherlands are directly affected. In ‘93 and ‘95 we had high water in the rivers too, which resulted in major infrastructural works, to be able to cope better with larger amounts of water. This system will now be tested to the full (and not beyond I hope). The water of both rivers will need to be handled downstream in The Netherlands in the next few days. What I find worrying is that the amounts of water that need to be handled were not expected before 2050 in the models. Last year this area suffered from drought and now this, an erratic development.

It's making headline news here in Australia. Best wishes to all our Greman and European TM friends.
Stay safe, stay well

I wanted to go hiking tomorrow with an old buddy in the Eifel. We booked the hotel two months ago near Schuld. Schuld is a very idyllic place with a fantastic restaurant. The place has been almost completely destroyed over two nights by the flood. Out of 700 residents, over 70 are still missing.

https://youtu.be/2Rq94QfwClE

It's just one example. It is a big disaster everywhere in the Eifel.

But even in my little street in Cologne, two women almost died last night. One was crushed by a fallen wall of cabinets and almost drowned. The other could not open the apartment door against the water pressure. Fortunately, the fire department was able to save both of them at the last minute.

In relation to all the suffering, we are doing relatively well. Ok, the basement is under water but there are only old files and a few bicycles. Some cars are in the side street in the underground garage. I had to work yesterday and couldn't get there but I phoned the neighbors. It was ok until 6:00 pm. Today I learned that yesterday at 19:00 some kind of water wave flooded the underground garage. It was sudden because the valves to the groundwater gave way and so it was too late anywhere.
I tell it only as an insignificant side story. Others have more suffering. The old Alfa Giulia of my wife was full of water in the interior. No technique was attacked. My Elise was hit harder. Almost all the electronics were under water.
Because my 4/4 gets a new head gasket it was fortunately in the workshop. With a water level of almost one meter for one hour and about 70cm for several hours, the 4/4 would have been completely destroyed.
Here the water level in the Elise higher than the heat control

Apparently a 'Moon wobble' in the mid 2030s is going to make things worse. The wobble, combined with climate change is going to cause significant tidal flooding etc

https://inews.co.uk/news/science/moon-wobble-nasa-wobbling-orbit-increase-flooding-1105064

Heinz,
that is terrible news. Stay safe.
John

I have just caught the evening news here in Australia to see very distressing pictures of devastation and the sad loss of life.
Best wishes from the land "DownUnder"
We trust you and your families stay safe.

It's horrific. The full extent is not yet foreseeable. Dams are also threatening to burst. In the Ahr district in the Eifel region alone, 1300 people are missing.

Here is a picture gallery

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesells...lich-fuehrt-die-bruecke-in-17440590.html