People in Hafenlohr are familiar with floods. The community bears the same name as a small river that flows into the Main below the Kirchberg there. If the levels rise, large parts of the old town are under water. This was last done in 2011. At that time, several houses were only accessible via footbridges or by boat.
Thaw causes two flood waves
Mayor Thorsten Schwab (CSU) still remembers it well. “That was a huge excitement, this disaster with the floods.” Schwab is at an intersection on the main road in the municipality in the Main-Spessart district. He lowers his hand a little below his hip. The water was that high.
The special thing about it: A thaw and rain caused two successive flood waves. In Hafenlohr, the first houses were already pumped out again when the levels rose again. The second wave was a little higher than the first. In Würzburg, for example, the Main reached a high of 6.42 meters. That was a little less than 2003. But this time it took an unusually long time. At the Würzburg / Main gauge, the reporting levels were exceeded for almost two weeks.
Flood protection prevents worse
The good news from these days: In many places the protective measures withstood the water masses. In Würzburg, for example, the water did not slosh into the old town. The so-called gap closure along the Main Quay was completed in 2009.
The city of Miltenberg was also able to be protected, with the exception of the Schwarzviertel. A report by “Main-Echo” says that an economic damage of 2.3 million euros could have been prevented, compared to the floods in 1995. At that time there was no flood protection in Miltenberg.
120 houses in Frickenhausen under water
But not all places got off so lightly. The municipality of Frickenhausen was particularly hard hit in the Würzburg district. About 120 houses were surrounded by the water for several days. Whoever wanted to leave his property had to be fetched by boat. There is only a meadow and a cycle path between Altort and Main.
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