In early August 2002, heavy rains caused the most devastating floods in modern Czech history.

Unseasonably heavy rainfall raised the levels in the Vltava and lower Elbe river basins, as well as in the Czech Ohře and Moravian Dyje.

From 6 to 18 August, two massive waves of flooding swept through southern and western Bohemia.

In Prague, the flooding culminated on 14 August with a record five-hundred-year flood, inundating the districts of Karlín, Holešovice, Libeň, and Malá Strana, not to mention the Prague metro network.

Districts such as Zbraslav, Lahovice, Radotín, Chuchle, and Lipence merged into what rescue workers described as “a single vast lake.” In the north, the lower part of Podbaba, the Lysolaje Valley, Sedlec, and large sections of Troja were submerged.

The rising waters left 50,000 residents with no choice but to evacuate. The day before, many had refused to leave voluntarily, but by Wednesday morning, emergency teams were evacuating residents by boat from apartments and offices.

Krizikova, border of the Prague 8 Karlin district

Prague’s Metro suffered catastrophic damage. Eight stations were completely flooded, and at the peak of the crisis, around half of the city’s 57 stations were out of service. Line B bore the brunt of the destruction, and it took seven months before full service was restored.

The floods swallowed 2,877 hectares of the city—5.8% of its total area, compared with just 527 hectares under normal conditions. The water tore through 169 residential buildings, and the overall damage in Prague alone was estimated at 27 billion crowns.

Kampa would eventually flood at first floor level

Prague Zoo was among the hardest-hit institutions. Rising waters claimed the lives of several animals: a lion and a bear had to be euthanized, while a gorilla and two Liberian hippos drowned.

The zoo’s famous sea lion Gaston became a national symbol of the disaster after escaping into the Vltava, swimming down the Elbe River into Germany, where he later died of exhaustion. In total, 1,010 animals were evacuated from the zoo.

The Old Town was closed and evacuated

The Vltava’s flow eventually peaked at 5,800 cubic meters per second, leaving behind not only a city struggling with unprecedented damage but also one that would spend years rebuilding.

The 2002 floods remain etched into Prague’s collective memory as a moment when the river both defined and devastated the city.

Sri Chinmoy Statue on the Kampa Embankment

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