Parts of eastern Europe have been flooded… again. The last such flood was in 2002 and was called a 1000 year flood, meaning such floods come once every 1000 years. So 1000 years have been compressed into eleven years. Droughts, floods, extreme heat waves, forest fires, superstorms — these are just the earliest symptoms of global climate disruption/global climate warming. We reprint below a report we received from Dresden in eastern Germany:
Dresden under water
Cities are enclosing their entire historic districts in (flood protection) walls. And it’s true, it really sucks for an ancient city full of life to be drowned. Pirna upstream, a lovely Renaissance city full of little stores, cafes, homes, children, etc. just flooded again. Almost to the roof tops again.
Although this flood was officially 60 centimeters (8.8 meters vs. 9.4) lower than 2002, in parts of Dresden, it rose higher than 2002. A huge wall had been built to protect a shopping mall that was originally built in an area designated to take extra water during a flood. My friend’s little garden with his garden house was destroyed on the other side of one such wall. It’s true, his place was more of garden hut, but it was a paradise.
The other interesting thing here is nature. It saddens me to think of all the animals. I worried about all the birds that had built their nests too low to the ground. Trees were completely submerged. And with good reason. I found an intact little blue egg yesterday and the remnants of a nest. It fit perfectly into my belly button, but alas, I am not a penguin.
No seriously, we saw frogs and moles swimming in the water and did what we could to rescue them. Every single piece of debris, be it a large piece of wood or a single leaf had some little insect clinging onto it for dear life. I hope some of them made it.
Now that the waters have receded it, I remember things from 2002. It took several years for our garden to return to normal on a micro-organic level. We have rich black soil, but for several years, there were no earthworms in it. Now I see lots and lots of drowned earthworm. So sad because our garden was finally back to its lush verdant state. Also, the peonies. They were full of buds and about to bloom. Peonies have something on their flowers that attracts ants. This stuff acts a bit like glue. The ants come, eat the stuff off, and allow the peonies to open their flowers. You can literally see the peonies struggling to open their flowers but cannot do it because the ants are drowned. Other flowers are already blooming, including roses, day lilies, buddleia. Some plants we can cut back to the ground and they grow back with a vengeance. Others have completely rotted away and are probably dead (bleeding hearts, poppies).
Categories: environment, individual stories