The River Elbe

The Elbe is one of Europe's major waterways. It rises in Czechoslovakia in the Riesengebirge (Giant Mountains - reminds me of Tolkien!) flows through the Erzgeberge, in an impressive gorge and in total is about 1165 km (724 miles) long. It is connected with many parts of Europe via an extensive network of canals.

Just after the Elbe has left the Hamburg Harbour area, flowing out to the west it reaches Blankenese and widens out to almost 3 km (1.8 miles) from bank to bank. The deep channel runs close to the northern bank (the Blankenese side), which means that we get some very close views of the ocean going freighters, container vessels, super tankers and cruise liners making their way between the North Sea in the west and Hamburg Harbour in the east. Not to mention the many sports and pleasure boats that also use this impressive waterway.

By the time the river has reached Cuxhaven,  where it flows into the North Sea, it is over 14 km (9 miles) wide.

Even as far inland as Hamburg (125km or 78 miles), the waters are "actively tidal" with a normal tidal range of between 3-4 metres: but with a strongish westerly wind, this can be increased by a further 6 metres or more!  Which has led to some devastating storm driven flooding. The funnel shape of the Elbe estiary opening into the North Sea acts like one of those old fashioned ear trumpets and amplifies the tidal effect, such that a wave of 2.5metres at Cuxhafen can reach 6m by the time it has reached Hamburg!

This makes Hamburg very much aware of its dykes and flood protection systems.  The last really "big one" was in 1976, but several times each year, nature puts the defences to the test and luckily, of late at least, they have held.

Unfortunately, back in 1963, they didn't hold and hundreds of people were drowned as the southern dykes were breached.

Latest Storm (3rd Dec 1999):

The latest storm with winds gusting to force 12 (=Hurricane), raised the high water level to 5.86m above normal high water over two hours before the normal high tide time. The authorities were predicting a level of 6.5m over normal, which meant that some residential areas were getting ready to be evacuated (the harbour had already been evacuated!) Luckily, it stopped just before that and began to recede even though it all occurred sveral hours early. There was little serious damage, although many people had flooded basements in the area of the fish market and spent a very uncomfortable night.

The following photo shows a still more recent storm flood in minature - a larger version is to be found under "latest views". The photo was taken by a good friend, Mr. Erke Kurmies and shows the "beach road" in Blankenese well under water!

The quality of the Elbe water has been a subject of much concern, but now is also one of the success stories associated with the reunification of Germany.

To be blunt, the river was dead! Poisoned and poisonous. The waters contained almost every possible unpleasant substance, ranging from heavy metals, through organic pollutants to plain old fashioned sewage. Contact with the water was detrimental to almost anything alive. One almost has the feeling that this was a good way for the then communist countries, up river, to have a go at the "West". But that is more than ten years ago!

Now with much investment and a lot of will, fish have returned and the colour is slowly returning to normal. I still would not use the water to make my tea, but people do now swim in it - but I think I will leave it another 10 years, before I try that!