Immersion
A subjective series on the 2024 flood
In late summer 2024, record rainfall fell in the Danube river basin. The tidal wave soon arrived in Hungary. Although the media were keen to dramatise the events, in fact, unlike the water, the disaster missed us. Anyone who went to the sites could see that the inhabitants of the waterfront villages were calmly going about their business without panic, protecting their living space from the water that they had deliberately built on the banks of. Peeling away the surface layer of drama, there lingers in the depths a strange relationship with water, one in which admiration, fear and acceptance can all be mixed. The humans finally bows his head to the powerful force of water. But this force not only destroys, it also gives life, awakens us to the great current of Life, makes us alive. Have we realised this, have we let ourselves to be immersed into this moment of grace?
Fruit trees under water in Dunabogdány, on 18 September 2024.
The statue of St. John Nepumuk in Vác, on the bridge over the Gombás stream on 19 September 2024. Colloquially known as Kőhíd or Kőszentes Híd, it is Hungary's oldest road bridge still in use today, built in the 18th century. It is located not far from Diadal Square, the lowest point in the city, and the source under the bridge was significantly backwatered by the Danube.
A sign for paid parking on the Danube bank in Nagymaros, 19 September 2024.
A woman watches water flowing out of the riverbed in Leányfalu on September 18, 2024.
Volunteers and soldiers build a barrier of sandbags between the Gombás stream and the city stadium on 19 September 2024.
A hearing-impaired child looks at the Danube in the centre of Vác. Teachers from the Cházár András Multipurpose Public Education Institution brought some students to watch the flood together.
A worker stands on sandbags on Margaret Island, 16 September 2024. A protective barrier is being erected around the lower, more important parts of the island in preparation for the imminent flooding threat.
The Szentendre Határcsárda ferry terminal on 18 September 2024.
A man in a flooded street of Verőce heading towards his house to save some of his objects on 22 September 2024.
A couple arrived with their dog to look at the Danube River near Kismaros on 19 September 2024. The mountains of the Danube bend appear in the background. Everything is alive.