Yesterday we got very close to having the first day in ages when it didn't rain at all, but then in the evening a few drops fell - nothing worth mentioning, but rain it was still. The flood is over, water levels have dropped already to almost normal again, and most of the Hot Lands of Lower Lobau are already dry.
Today I've had a closer look at the mud lines of Upper and Lower Lobau; in general, in Upper Lobau there was only slight flooding while in Lower Lobau great areas were flooded, due to water seeping into the national park through the Schönau bayou which isn't dammed off of the Danube river. It is a little bit eerie to know that you drive just below water level:
as it was just a few days ago: you can clearly see the mud line here, just about at shoulder level, and a few metres further the mud line clearly rose above my head (in metric units that's about two metres). Nevertheless, Sedum sexangulare isn't too impressed and starts flowering again as soon as the flood's gone:
This Verbascum here (V. thapsus ? - Kleinblüten-Königskerze, Common Mullein) survived even though its lower parts were flooded; in the background you can easily make out the floodline in the Schönau region (already in Lower Austria); Schönau ford still is impassable while most of the other roads already are free again:
So the worst is over (not that it ever was as bad in 2009 as it was in 2002 when there were sever floodings all over the country).
Only that it did rain again today, and if the warm and wet and sultry weather should continue the next flooding might not be far away. For once I only hope that some hot and very dry weather will come ... but a cold front is predicted, so probably no such luck.
