Marko Posavec Photography

After the brief flooding of Koprivnica (part of the aftermath in the previous post), Drava took over. The river couldn’t handle all the water coming in from Slovenia, River Mura and its tributaries, and on September 16^th at 8:00 UTC the water level was +578 centimeters – only 4 centimeters lower than the record high from 1972. Surrounding villages were threatened and partly flooded, but fortunately no great damage was done. The flood is now slowly receding.

Water level of nearby Lake Šoderica responded to this and rose accordingly. It was known to fluctuate along with Drava, but this is something unprecedented or at least extremely rare. This tiny island, for example, used to be much larger and connected to shore. Right now, it isn’t.

This beach was opened this summer. The parasols now provide shade for fish and other water animals.

This is ordinary land grass beneath the surface, not some underwater plants.

Many islands are now sunken, which is why there are these strange scenes – trees in the middle of the lake.

This used to be a nice place to sit and enjoy. Now you can only swim there. (Not that it’s a bad option, actually).

The bridge that leads to nowhere. Nowhere dry, that is.

There are, however, some that do not mind all this water.

The levee did what it was designed to do and protected the other side of the river, a thin strip of land between Drava and the Hungarian border. The river spilled the other way.

And finally, view of the swollen river from Botovo bridge.