Flood Danger
by Sam BeckwithNot this again As rapidly melting snow continues to flow north along the Vltava river, Prague is on a first-degree flood alert, bringing back inevitable memories of August 2002.
According to an iDnes.cz report posted at 15:26, the river is flowing at a rate of 800 cubic meters per second. We’re expected to move to a second-degree alert – 1,090 cubic meters/second – at around 8pm.
The river is expected to peak at around 2,300 cubic meters/second.
So far, there doesn’t seem to be any cause to panic – Prague has greatly improved its flood defenses since 2002, and carried out a major flood-prevention exercise just last year.
There is, however, talk of evacuating the lower part of Prague Zoo, while the iDnes.cz report names Velká Chuchle, Radotín, Zbraslav, Lipence and Troja as the areas of Prague most at risk.
As things stand, it seems highly unlikely that the rising waters will affect downtown Prague.
