Looking through images of places that have suffered from flooding, especially those where floods occur on a regular basis, I often come across photos of marks or plaques indicating the height of the flood waters. Some of the flood markers are makeshift, written in pen or paint, often done by individuals. Others are a little more grand, perhaps set up by the local community or town council, and have decorated plaques or even statues. All of them provide us with a sombre reminder of the devastation a flood can bring.
There must be thousands of similar flood marks or high water marks wherever floods have occurred around the world, each one telling a story.
Photos of Flood and High Water Marks
Over the years I’ve put together a small collection of photos of various flood and high water marks and memorials. The photos are from floods in USA, Australia, Germany and England. I’ve included some of them below.
Click on an image to see a larger version and descriptions, then scroll through each photo in the gallery using the navigation options.
Flood level markers from River Rhine floods in Boppard, Germany. Photo from 2013 by Dr Stephen Yeo, used with permission. Marks from bottom to top: May 1983, February 1970, January 1995, March 1968, 1882 (no mnth given) and at the very top, February 1784
High water marks on the town hall building in Passau, Germany. Passau is the meeting point of 3 great rivers – Danube, Inn, and Ilz – and as such suffers regularly from floods. Photo is from 2002, the same year the city was to suffer from floods once again. In 2013, Passau saw the worst flooding in 500 years. Photo credit: Roger Wollstadt @ flickr
Flood water levels for Gundagai, Australia. Gundagai suffered some of the worst flooding seen in Australian history during 1852 and 1853. Photo credit: Conquimbo
High water mark from Hurricane Ike, 2008. Galveston, Texas. Photo: ret0dd @ flickr
Flood marks at the west entrance to the Church of St Margaret, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England. The 1953 mark was from the North Sea Floods of that year, when 307 people died in England. Photo is from 2011. Photo credit: Hunky Punk @ flickr
Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England. Photo from 2008. Wallingford was under water again during the winter floods of 2014. Photo credit: Bishi @ flickr
High water marks on the Eiserner Steg bridge in Frankfurt. “Vom Eise befreit sind Strom und Bäche” is from Goethe. Photo from 2005. Photo credit: D Weekly @ flickr
55 years of floods in Salies de Béarn, south western France. Photo from 2006. The town flooded again in February 2009. Photo credit
High water marks with names and date of storms and hurricanes, Lorimer Park, Pennsylvania. Photo credit
We need your photos…
Hopefully we can add to our photo collection as time goes on. If you have any relevant photos we can include we would be very happy to hear from you. Please find our contact details here.
