The Great Flood of 2736

Otherwise known as the "Lowlands Century Flood".

[...] After the water came gushing into the ground floor, you either had another one above to retreat to or were at the mercy of the element. And even if you managed to hide at the attic or whatever, there was still the chance that the water would get to you or that it would weaken the building and make it collapse straight on your head. If you still had a roof after the storm, that is. Otherwise, you'd only just fall into the raging waters.

an account of a townsman regarding the flood

The Great Flood of 2736 was an enormous flooding event which occurred in the lowlands situated on the banks of the Bemfels river. Caused by melting snow and extremely heavy rain both upstream and in the plains, it resulted in a death toll of over 4000 people and exorbitant property damage. The largest city of the area, ----, had over 40% of its buildings ruined, while many smaller towns and villages were practically razed to the ground by the flood.

Cause

The early months of spring usually are plentiful in rain here. But by heavens above, never have I seen such malevolent storms such as then. It seemed as if someone above had lifted a divine dam and let all the water which it had held pour down onto the poor mortal souls below. Archimandrate Deurt ven Resfeld in his historical description of the flood titled "Word of the Deluge"

There were two main causes for the flood:

• melting winter snow
• severe storms occurring all along the Bemfels river

The water from the melting snow in the Central Mountains, where the Bemfels river has its source, had already raised the river level to dangerous levels by early April. This, however, was not yet enough to make the river overflow. Due to this, people in the area thus remained relatively calm about the situation. This suddenly changed, when an abrupt wave of intense storms hit the area in mid-April. Three days of almost continuous downpour quickly made the water levels rise substantially.

Course of the flood

On the afternoon of 19th of April, the storms began and by evening the Bemfels river had already overflowed. Towns and cities by the river suffered instantly, with whole ground floors becoming submerged. The situation was progressively becoming worse by the hour and sometime in the morning the following day, the water breached the embankment protecting large areas of the lowlands. Water rushed out onto the plains, destroying fields and already battered by the storm lone villages. With the information of incoming disaster spreading in the more further parts of the region, mass evacuations of civilians, animals and machine equipment to higher ground were ordered. These proved difficult to effectively organise due to the ongoing storms, however. Because of this, many were interrupted by the flood water reaching the respective areas. By the 21st, almost 2/3 of the lowlands were flooded. The storms finally died out, however the water remained for much longer.

Aftermath

Over the following next two months, water was slowly lowering. Several special ships were sent in to help with pumping away the water into tanks, while many others were devoted to searching for those who were stuck in flooded buildings that were now standing among what basically was a huge lake. With the arrival of summer, the situation was mostly contained, but the damage was enormous. Thousands of hectares of fields were ruined, as the area had turned into a marshland-like environment. Damage to man-made structures was extensive, with a reported 27 villages being completely wiped off the map. Many smaller towns were destroyed in over 80% at times, though usually ranging between 40-60% of the total original building state.

A drawing depicting the flood.

Type

Natural

Rumours about the causes

It is rumoured that the powerful storms that swept through the lowlands were the result of a botched arcane ritual. This gained traction due to how such intense rains were never recorded before and after the Great Flood of 2736, a fact which to some was an indicator that the natural disaster had its source in something bizarre - such as the arcane. Major institutions on the Central Continent that represent the magic community have rejected any involvement in the causation of the flood. Despite there being research that was conducted after the flood that showed very specific weather conditions and energy fluctuations be the most probable culprit when it came to the storms, many still believe this to be a cover-up to some failure of one of the magical academies.

You can't imagine the relief of seeing it finally stop raining. The sun breaking through the black clouds was like some sort of annunciation. At least for the moment. Then you realized you were stranded on a lone island that was the remains of your tenement and it really did depend on your own approach to life whether the worst was over or still going on. a part of a memoir of a survivor of the flood who was stuck in his flooded apartment for almost two weeks