St. Mary Magdalene's flood

The Magdalene flood was a devastating flood disaster that ravaged the countryside of many rivers of central Europe in July 1342. The name goes back to the then-common designation of days after the calendar of saints here on the St. Magdalenentag on July 22. In this event, the highest ever recorded water levels were reached on many rivers. Maybe it is the worst flood of the entire 2nd millennium in Central European inland.

Causes

As with other extreme flood events, such as the Oder flood in 1997, the Elbe flood of 2002 or the floods in Central Europe in 2013, the tide was probably triggered by a Vb - weather conditions. After a cold, snowy winter snowmelt in February had already effected a first high water in Prague, among others, the Judith Bridge, the forerunner of the Charles Bridge destroyed. After a wet early summer, which caused a constant high river levels, then had a heat wave in July dry out the soil, so that they could hardly let through water. Then coming moved about from 19 to 22 July, a rain area from the southeast to the northwest across Germany, the vast areas brought large quantities of precipitation. In the catchment area of the River Main in this case occurred rainfall average of at least 175 mm, spread over four days on.

Course

For the Rhine -Main area, the course of the flood of contemporary sources as well as from today's model calculations is deducible. From the traditional Frankfurt for water level of 7.85 meters can be, for example, the Main a maximum outflow of 3700 m³ / s calculate to 4000 m³ / s. That's almost twice as much as the floods of January 1995. The flood peak in Frankfurt took about three to four days. According to model calculations of the outflow reached only after about four weeks back normal.

For an outflow of Würzburg 3000-3600 m³ / s was calculated, where the influences are difficult to assess by the impounding of the collapsed bridge. The height of the flood was due to lack of high water marks by historical descriptions ("In the city of Würzburg, the power went up to the first stone pillar at the Domgreden day").

Almost all the major floods on the rivers Rhine, Main and Danube occur during the winter season November 1 to April 30, when the runoff to be handled are exacerbated by snowmelt and soil sealing by frost. The Magdalene flood is an exception that you can not detect with statistical methods in this respect. The outflow maxima correspond approximately to a statistical return value of 10,000 years ( HQ10 000 ).

Effects

Were affected, among others, the Rhine, Main, Danube, Moselle, Moldova, Elbe, Weser, Werra and Unstrut. The flood is mentioned in the chronicles of numerous cities, so in Würzburg, Frankfurt am Main, Mainz, Cologne, Regensburg, Passau and Vienna. Almost all bridges were destroyed at that time, rivers changed. In Bamberg the Regnitz tore a "bridge tower with " a. In the Danube region alone killed more than 6,000 people. Im Solling Winnefeld the village was destroyed.

The topographic consequences of the flood can still be detected today. The mass of eroded soil material was approximately 13 billion tons. That is about the amount that is lost during normal weather conditions in 2000 years.

In the years after the Magdalene flood followed by cold and wet summer, which led, in conjunction with the wegerodierten soil to crop losses, as a result there were massive famines, which also aggravated the consequences of rampant during the years 1347 to 1353 the great European plague. Even outside the regions where high water is detectable, there are indications of heavy rain and soil erosion, as the central Neckar.

From the chronicles

" On the third day before Mary Magdalene bit on their day is the Meyn been so great that the water is completely mod Sachsenhausen addressed and to Frankfurt churches in all and alleys "

" [Where in the cathedral ] the water a man stood up to the girdle "

"This summer was such a great flood of water by the whole world our zone, which was not created by torrents of rain, but it seemed as if the water came gushing out from everywhere, even from the tops of the mountains [ ... ], and the walls of the city of Cologne you went in boats [ ... ], the Danube, Rhine and Main wore towers, very strong city walls, bridges, houses and the bulwarks of cities thereof, and the windows of heaven were open, and the rain fell on the earth as in the 600th year of Noah's life [ ... ], it happened in Würzburg that there the Main force smashed the bridge and many people forced to leave their homes. "

" At Maria Magdalenatag and the following day was an extraordinary downpour, which so much swelled the Main power that the same everywhere far stepped out of his bed, fields and vineyards destroyed many houses and fortriß together dwellers. The Bridge in Würzburg and the Main bridges of other cities were destroyed by the fury of the water. In the city of Würzburg, the current stepped up to the first stone pillar at the Domgreden. "