The most horrid floods in Hungarian history

The Danube is the second biggest river in Europe, and the possibility of floods still poses a threat today.  In the 19th century, hundreds of people were killed, and thousands of homes were destroyed in two horrible floods. These were the most terrible floods that ever happened in Hungary.

Before the proper river regulation at the end of the 19th century, spring was a particularly threatening time of year due to melting, Origo reports.

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The 1838 flood of Pest

In January 1838, houses near the shore in Buda were flooded due to the really heavy precipitation. It was pretty bad but not catastrophic. However, there was a major drop in temperature at the end of January, which caused the portion of the Danube between Buda and Vienna to freeze. The catastrophe happened at the beginning of March when suddenly everything started to melt. It all started to drift. The dams could not handle the pressure, and the water busted through.

153 people were killed, 2,485 houses were destroyed, and 60,000 people became homeless.

The unstoppable river flooded the whole city. The water level in the area where the Grand Boulevard is today was 2 meters high. Józsefváros, Ferencváros and Terézváros were completely flooded, too.