An emergency solution is usually imagined to be somewhat smaller: the steel pipe with which the weir in Erlabrunn was provisionally repaired on Saturday evening is 30 meters long and weighs 16 tons. The weir had suffered major damage from flooding. The middle weir lock has not been closed since Wednesday. The approximately 75 centimeter gap has now been provisionally sealed with the steel pipe.
“Extremely difficult maneuver”
During the night from Friday to Saturday, employees of the Würzburg building yard and the WSA Main had welded the built-in part together from three ten-meter-long pieces of pipe. The 16-ton pipe was lowered in the flow area in front of the gap. According to the Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA), it was an extremely difficult maneuver in which many experts were involved.
Main shipping will soon be reopened
The water level was secured by the provisional solution and should be raised again in the next few hours. Then the Main could be released for shipping again, said Michel. Reviews are still ongoing.
Yesterday, Saturday, the water level at the Erlabrunn weir fell by up to one meter below the normal traffic jam. Shipping on the eleven-kilometer section between Erlabrunn and Würzburg was stopped on Friday. Inland vessels had to find a suitable berth downstream above the Marktbreit lock and upstream to the Himmelstadt lock.
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