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Instead of carrying grapes, harvest boxes over the weekend were being used to hold back the water as all of lower Austria was declared a disaster area on Sunday. Extreme flood warnings are expected to continue across Austria and the neighboring countries of Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic through at least September 17th.
The situation remains particularly precarious along Austria's Kamp and Krems rivers due to the topography and the force and speed of the rushing water. Patrick Proidl of Weingut Familie Proidl in the winegrowing district of Krems reports that the "the little Krems river looks like the Danube. We are completely sealed off and the river is knocking on the winery buildings."
In western Vienna, the water level of the Wien River rose from 50 centimeters (20 inches) to 2.26 meters (7.5 ft) over the course of a day, prompting evacuation orders for significant parts of the city. And in Germany near the border with the Czech Republic, the Elbe River at Schöna was expected to crest at 7.50 meters (23 feet) by Tuesday afternoon --- more than five times its average height of 1.58 meters (4 feet).
To add further insult to injury, although a hot August prompted a record breaking early start to harvest, many of the grapes were still hanging on the vine when the storms hit. "Nature," says Proidl, "we are simply spectators even if we don't want to admit it."
Our thoughts are with those most heavily affected as climate volatility continues to show us her full ire.
📸 Weingut Familie Proidl
#austrianwine #austriafloods2024 #climatechange
