imago images/Jochen Eckel

A History of German Flooding: IMAGO Archive

With numerous climate disasters happening in recent months around the world - Germany has been one of the talking points in 2021 when back in July parts of the country suffered devastating flooding.

In the lead up and all throughout the nations general election, climate change and environmental action was at the forefront of most conversations with the Green party, winning 15% of the vote and achieving their best result ever in a national election. Not least part of this conversation was the flooding that occurred in hard-hit Western Germany in the summer after heavy rains swept across states. As flood victims begin rebuilding their communities and brace for winter, there is a question over what can be done to prevent such events from reoccurring. 

We take a look back into the IMAGO Archive at the previous events that have altered the German landscape, changed communities and claimed lives. From the 1997 Central European flood, The Elbe flood catastrophe of 2002, the Alpine regions worst hit in 2005 and large scale floods along the Elbe and Danube, in the spring of 2013. 


Germany Flood 1997
IMAGO / Rolf Zöllner | Flooding on the Oder River: Sandbag filling station for the dam near Hohenwutzen. Helicopters bring sandbags (5 tons) to the dam. Hohenwutzen, Germany, July 30, 1997.
germany flood 2021
IMAGO / Xinhua / Tang Ying | Flood disaster, NRW, cleanup operations in Bad Münstereifel – BAD MÜNSTEREIFEL (GERMANY), July 17, 2021.
germany flood
IMAGO / Rolf Zöllner | Flooding on the Oder River: Flooded power plant in Finkenheerd, Germany, on July 30, 1997.
germany flooding in Saxony
IMAGO / fossiphoto | Meissen, Saxony: flood in city center, taken on August 17, 2002.
German Flooding
IMAGO / Jochen Eckel | Oder Flood 1997: Wiesenau, Germany, July 26, 1997. Residents use a rubber dinghy to fetch clothes from their house in Wiesenau, which was trapped by the flood.
Germany Flood
IMAGO / Christian Thiel | German Flooding: Pumping water out of the old town – Elbe River flooding in Dresden. August 17, 2002.
IMAGO / Becker & Bredel
IMAGO / Becker & Bredel | Volunteers fill and stack sandbags on Monday, August 19, 2002, in Torgau on the Elbe. Bundeswehr forces, along with DRK and THW, and many volunteers are doing everything they can to prevent further flooding in the disaster.
germany flooding
IMAGO / Jochen Eckel

germany flood 1997
IMAGO / Rolf Zöllner
germany flood
IMAGO / fossiphoto
germany flood
IMAGO / Jochen Eckel
germany flood 1990s
IMAGO / Becker & Bredel
Germany Flood 1997
IMAGO / Jochen Eckel | Germany Flood 1997: Frankfurt Oder, Germany, July 27, 1997. Soldiers of the German Federal Armed Forces reinforce a protective dyke in Frankfurt Oder with sandbags.
Germany flood
IMAGO / Sylvio Dittrich | Flood in Germany, 2013.
germany flood
IMAGO / Olaf Döring | High water after heavy rain on the Rhine in Xanten. Germany, 2021
germany flood
IMAGO / Future Image
German flooding
IMAGO / blickwinkel / S. Ziese | German flooding, 2021.
German Flooding
IMAGO / Karen Oates | German Flooding, 2006.

See the full Archive Collection here.