Below: A 709 bus heading for Piaseczno. The passengers cannot believe what they are seeing. It has taken this bus well over 90 minutes to get this far (usually this is a 25 minute journey from Wilanowska). On the corner of ul. Karczunkowska was a reporter for TVN Warszawa, who posted this report.
The reason why Puławska was under water was the bursting of the banks of the pond on ul. Pozytywki ('music box street'), just south of ul. Karczunkowska. The pond's normal banks are marked by the row of grass and the tree in the middle of the pic. Looking at the area in Google Earth (with the Terrain box checked), you can see that the pond's elevation is 102m above sea level, while Puławska to the east is a mere 101m. The fields to the east of the pond at at 103m plus. So the water draining off the fields pours into the pond, which overflows, and the water floods down to Puławska.
Below: To give you an idea of the scale of the flooding. Ul. Pozytywki, eight am. This is my fixed wheel bike (incidentally, the very best form of bicycle for such conditions). It has 28" wheels, probably some eight inches showing. So 20 inches (50cm) of water covering the road. I also noticed on a nearby wall that the water had actually fallen by some 4" (10cm) from its highest level, which would have peaked at 60cm (24" or two feet).
Below: 400 metres to the east; Puławska is wall-to-wall with water. The north (city) bound traffic is reduced to one lane, but it is moving. Southbound, things look trickier.Warszawa powódż Ursynów zielony
Left: The retail and office complex close to the corner of Puławska and Karczun-kowska. Note the guard box in the foreground that's just floated away. Further away, just under the Dierre sign is a white box which is the electrical substation for this area. It was submerged to a depth of at least a metre. Below: Pozytywki again, from the Karczunkowska side. The base of the electrical transformer is under water.
Woah!! Amazing the flooding of Puławska - have kept myself rather to myself since that storm so haven't seen much around Konstancin, but the strom was one humdinger!! Here the trees were swaying and almost bending double - the wind was that strong. We were celebrating mum's imieniny and children's day. It took mum almost an hour to get home - a journey that usually takes 5 mins by car due to fallen trees, flooding in Chylice plus all the traffic build up. I ended up wading in my wellies to Kaufland to use their cashpoint, as the road there was also closed due to flooding.
ReplyDeleteHope your shoulder is better bythe way, A.
Warszawa Lost and Found: one white guard box.
ReplyDeleteAbout the road sign, what is it trying to tell dla pieszych? Uwaga na pieszych? And what if you can’t read Polish?