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[Lumo]

Will the current flood in magdeburg affect EF or the EF hotel? And will it make it harder for some to travel there later year? Thinking about how much damage a flood can make and how long it can take to repair the damages after.

[o'wolf]

Oldtown Magdeburg should be high enough to not be (directly) affected by the flood. Currently only some lower areas along the River Elbe may be flooded. Critical infrastructure does not seem to be at risk, either.

[Jumpy]

Oldtown Magdeburg should be high enough to not be (directly) affected by the flood. Currently only some lower areas along the River Elbe may be flooded. Critical infrastructure does not seem to be at risk, either.

And once again we see that people were smarter back then. They simply didn't build on low ground...

[MrEvers]

Any updates? I've heard Magdeburg is also in danger now

[Dhary Montecore]

There is still no imminent danger to the Maritim hotel yet. Don't worry, it doesn't look like there will be any risk for the convention!

[Suicune]

They are safe now. The flood starts to fall

[o'wolf]

Any updates? I've heard Magdeburg is also in danger now

According to the media and the City of Magdeburg:

Some streets in lower areas (Werder, Alte Neustadt, Neue Nestadt, Rothensee, Ostelbe, Port) are flooded, the central power station at the port seems to be safe now. Most bridges in the city are closed but so far undamaged, some railway lines are interrupted for security reasons. Old Town, including the hotels, railway station, the Allee Center mall, the City Carré shopping center and historical buildings are unaffected. The water level is falling.

Unfortunately, the Magdeburg puppet theater had to cancel their puppetry festival that was planned for this month, as their locations are affected by the flood. More damages will be visible only after the water is gone, I'm afraid.

[Wawik]

In fact, the whole situation is going to take a few more days to cool down, as the flood surge has now passed the city, but the water levels are falling very slowly, which keeps the levees under pressure.

There are a few residential and industrial areas in the city that are underwater about hip-deep, and about 25,000 people have been evacuated from the eastern parts, but the area west of the River Elbe is mostly unaffected. Plus, a local fur who works in one of the office blocks at the City Carré has confirmed on Twitter today that the Maritim is indeed still standing. 

Most of the flooding happened further up the river and in more rural areas, so it's pretty much expected at this point that nothing extreme will happen, unless they have an unexpected levee failure in a critical location over the next two or three days. There are currently a large number of road and rail disruptions (the main line to Berlin is out of service, for example) but nothing that shouldn't be cleaned up by the time we get there. Thankfully, this is not like the 2002 floods that washed away houses and railway lines, but more of a slower, higher and longer-lasting surge.

The BBC, by the way, has this report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22835947

[ysegrim]

The Centre for Satellite based Crisis Information has a map of the flooded areas around Magdeburg: http://www.zki.dlr.de/de/product/map/dlr-zki-de-005-deutschland-hochwasser-2013-betroffene-flaeche-detail-elbe-magdeburg-p30 and
http://www.zki.dlr.de/de/product/map/dlr-zki-de-005-deutschland-hochwasser-2013-betroffene-flaeche-detail-elbe-magdeburg-p27

As you can see, the only thing affected within foot range is the Rothehornpark. This is as of today, post-peak, but the water levels will still be high for another couple of days, and if any dams break, things might become more critical again ... but for now, it looks good for EF. (Though I am convinced people from the affected area of Magdeburg will be glad about any donations ... it turns out that insurance companies often refused people to close to a river ... we will have to see.)

[Dhary Montecore]

EF charity for the city of magdeburg would leave a great impression with the locals ;3

[Cheetah]

No, this is not why we call it the "overflow hotel".

[Blackymoon]

EF charity for the city of magdeburg would leave a great impression with the locals ;3

That would actually be a very nice idea

But yeah, watching the affected areas really stings inside, especially since we didn't had such a bad flood for about 10 years or longer in 2002 - always terrible to see homes and the environment destroyed after the flood ebbs away slowly.

And Cheetah, dammit, I just got the same idea xD

[Cheetah]

Concerning a charity for Magdeburg: Of course I don't want to discourage anyone from donating to organisations that support flood victims. But I don't think it would be beneficial to do anyting official.  First of all, we can't possibly raise enough money to make even the slightest difference - and we already have a charity, and I really don't want to create any kind of competition. We're deliberately choosing small organisations - those for whom we can actually make a difference. For the 2 Billion in damages that the flood has caused so far, even our best efforts wouldn't even register - so I would say, everyone should donate individually to those organisations who are a lot better in organising help for such an event than we are:

http://www.mopo.de/elbe-hochwasser/hier-koennen-sie-helfen-spendenkonten-hochwasser-2013,23206960,23204116.html