2002 European flood
In August of 2002 a 100-year flood caused by over a week of continuous heavy rains ravaged Europe, killing dozens, dispossessing thousands, and causing damages of billions of dollars in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia.
Development of the floods
The floods first started with heavy rainfall in the Eastern Alps, which resulted in floods in Northern Italy, Bavaria and the Austrian states of Salzburg and Upper Austria. The floods gradually moved eastwards along the Danube, although the damages in the large cities on its shores were not as severe as in the areas affected by the floods later. In some cases, damages were averted by good flood defense systems (for example, there were virtually no damages in Vienna in spite of a record water level of the Danube).
When the rainfall moved northeast to the Bohemian Forest and to the source areas of the Elbe and Vltava rivers, the result were catostrophic water levels first in the Austrian areas of Mühlviertel and Waldviertel and later in the Czech Republic, Thuringia and Saxony. Rivers changed their courses in unexpected ways, which caught residents off guard. Several villages in Northern Bohemia, Thuringia and Saxony were more or less destroyed by rivers changing their courses.
The two large cities that were most severely hit were Dresden and Prague, in both of which large parts of the old town were under water and numerous historic buildings were damaged. The Prague Metro system was affected by water entering the tunnels.