This past weekend was absolutely gorgeous here in Germany. It’s been in the 50’s and the sun was shining brightly on Sunday, not a cloud in the sky. It was a very nice break from the rain and gray skies we’ve been having…and which are typical of Frankfurt winters. And somehow it feels like spring already, even though I know it’s only mid-January. But a girl can dream.

You might remember me mentioning just about a month ago that we were having freakish amounts of snow here in Frankfurt and that Germany was just in a total state of snow chaos. I know that in the US, the same has been true. Unfortunately, now that we’re having all this unusually warm weather, and our usual winter rains, the snow has melted way too quickly and the streams and rivers of Germany simply cannot handle it. It’s not as bad as Australia with sharks swimming in the cities, but it is quite unusual.

All of Germany currently has their eyes focused on local flooding situations. We don’t live on any major rivers, but the tiny one that is normally only 2-3 feet has turned into a raging river that has overflowed its banks and caused virtual lakes in all the low-lying areas on its banks. The river you see below is normally about 4 feet lower than it is now. And the water over to the right in the green area…not supposed to be there.

A few years ago while we were already living in the farmhouse, we had some flooding like this although not quite so severe…and then it got really cold again. These fields that were full of water, maybe 1-2 feet deep, completely froze and we had huge public ice skating rinks. Stefan said yesterday that if it ices over again like that, he’ll buy us some used ice skates. Of course then he’d have to teach me how to use them…

In the picture above, none of the water is supposed to be where it is. Past that tree, it’s usually all just flat, green fields. And the base of that tree, about 3 feet below the water level, is easily seen.

As we wandered around town in a big circle, we also came across the local electricity workers near our water treatment plant. I have to say they looked a bit worried. Water is already creeping into the power supply station and I’m not really excited about going back to the past without clean running water for a week or so. On the other hand, we only flush our toilet 2-3 times a day (if it’s yellow, let it mellow is our rule most of the time) and we still have our outhouse. So I’m sure we’d survive. Yes,we also have fresh water stored as well as lots of rain water which we can filter with our Ketadyn. Yep, we’re trying to be prepared for anything!

What I find pretty amazing about all this, is that none of the houses we saw had water up to their doorsteps. The builders all seem to have paid attention to flood plains and built just above them. Now I’m sure some of these houses still have water in their basements and probably will for a while…but so many times when you see flooding in the world, the houses are just swimming.

Just to get a little perspective, that bench where the white posts is, is normally about 4 feet above water level. There is a a little walking path near that fence on the left and this is usually a dog walking area.

I know that not everyone in Germany has been so lucky to avoid having water in their homes and this is really just a tiny river that is only a few feet deep most of the year. But aside from a few swing sets, there really doesn’t seem to be anything major going on, nor do any of these homes look threatened by the water.

Now I know it’s a totally different angle because I was trying to photograph the ducks here…but this is what the water level is like in this part of the river normally. So you can see that the water is usually 4-5 feet below the edge of the wall. In the photo above, which is just a few feet to the left of the pilings of the bridge, you can’t even tell there is a wall down there.

Oh and the ducks…they’re also nowhere to be found. Headed for higher ground I guess.

See the more the situation in Regensberg from another expat blogger…a few artistic shots closer to us from Resident Evil on Earth.