The Danube is the second biggest river in Europe, and the possibility of floods still poses a threat today. In the 19th century, hundreds of people were killed, and thousands of homes were destroyed in two horrible floods. These were the most terrible floods that ever happened in Hungary.
Before the proper river regulation at the end of the 19th century, spring was a particularly threatening time of year due to melting, Origo reports.
The 1838 flood of Pest
In January 1838, houses near the shore in Buda were flooded due to the really heavy precipitation. It was pretty bad but not catastrophic. However, there was a major drop in temperature at the end of January, which caused the portion of the Danube between Buda and Vienna to freeze. The catastrophe happened at the beginning of March when suddenly everything started to melt. It all started to drift. The dams could not handle the pressure, and the water busted through.
153 people were killed, 2,485 houses were destroyed, and 60,000 people became homeless.
The unstoppable river flooded the whole city. The water level in the area where the Grand Boulevard is today was 2 meters high. Józsefváros, Ferencváros and Terézváros were completely flooded, too.
The 1878 flood of Miskolc
It was the summer of 1878, and the heat was heavy. On 30 August, a huge storm was coming toward the Northern parts of Hungary. It soon reached the city of Miskolc. Rain was pouring down to a huge area, and the water started running down from the Bükk Mountains, quickly filling up the nearby streams. On the 31st of August, both streams left their banks, and the huge amount of unstoppable water was flowing towards the downtown of Miskolc.
The water swept away everything in its way. People had no chance to escape as the flood was getting 50 cm higher per minute. More than 4,00 people died. It was officially the deadliest, most serious flood that ever struck the country.
The downtown of Miskolc was completely destroyed. 2,182 houses were demolished, and half of the city’s buildings were seriously damaged. Interestingly, Miskolc never received any government aid to help restore basically the whole city.
Featured image: Commons.wikimedia.org By Csaba Berze