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This is a shocking picture; as if the whole town was built on top of an ancient river.
by higeorge13 5y ago
This is a shocking picture; as if the whole town was built on top of an ancient river.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoYup. There's clearly a former oxbow there. Europe was basically all deforested farmland at one point. As it industrialized the last places farming was economically viable were the most fertile land which is going to be the floodplain and the river's former oxbow and resulting swamp. Then a developer probably comes along (say 1910 or 1920 or something) and builds on the easiest to build land, which is the already cleared land of the last farm to croak. Then 100yr later we get a record rainfall and the river takes it all back for a couple weeks.
- alternatetwo 5y agoAnd actually ancient, the specific village was first mentioned in 1074[1], and a nearby city was at least a settlement in 1000-500 BC[2]. So it's not like extreme floodings there are common, which makes it even worse. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimerzheim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimerzheim [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Neuenahr-Ahrweiler#Antiquity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Neuenahr-Ahrweiler#Antiqui...