From the Deník archive: On August 20, 2002, there was talk of flood protection in Prague
/PHOTO GALLERY/ Would Prague be underwater? That was the main headline on August 20, 2002 in Večerník Praha, which is the successor of Pražský deník. Look at what was written about the floods that day.
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Prague floods, 2002.
| Photo: Fire Rescue Corps Hl. city of Prague
“The flood has overtaken the protection plan,” it was written on the front page of the newspaper, stating that the construction of flood protection was slowed down by the dispute over the protection of Kampa, so Karlín has not yet been reached.
Večerník Prague, August 20, 2002.Večerník Prague, August 20, 2002.Večerník Prague, August 20, 2002.Večerník Prague, August 20, 2002.
The editors devoted a lot of space to health risks after heavy water. “Water that is only slowly receding can harbor the germs of infectious diseases,” reads one of the articles with the title Mud Smells of Death.
And the youth read the daily press especially carefully. The extension of the holidays was at stake. “The mayor proposes extending the holidays by up to a month,” Večerník Praha wrote that day.
The first wave of flooding
August 9
The rains in the south of Bohemia have stopped and the water has receded. The Vltava reached a flow rate of 1500 m³/s (3 SPA) and began to decline.
10th of August
The first wave of flooding has ended and a major clean-up and damage assessment has begun, but they warned of more sustained rainfall. The Vltava in Prague has dropped to the second level of flood activity.
August 11th
In the afternoon, it began to rain heavily in the south of Bohemia, the water managers released the dams, but promised that the Vltava in Prague would not reach the first wave of flooding.
From the Deník archive: August 19, 2002, people were only allowed to go to Karlín for a while
The second wave of flooding
Aug. 12
the second wave is expected to be much stronger than the first.
August 13
Electricity supply was interrupted in the historic center of Prague. The Velká Chuchle racecourse was completely flooded.
August 14th
The Vltava in Prague reached a flow rate of 5,160 m3/s at 12 o’clock in Velká Chuchla at a water level of 782 cm, Karlín and the Prague metro were flooded.
The newspaper recalls the devastating floods that hit the Czechia twenty years ago. How did the disaster affect the lives of the people of Central Bohemia and Prague? Read here.