Page - 207 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

12 Ice Jamsand their Impact onUrbanCommunities 207 Fig. 3:Vienna, in- strumental temp- eraturemeasure- mentsat 2p.m. at theVienna-Tabor water gaugestation andmortality rates (peopledyingper day), January–March 1784 (smoothedby 5-dayGaussian filter). The rectan- glesmark the coldestdaysaround 7 January 1784and the timeof the ice flood from 28February 1784 onwards (fordata seeWienerZeitung; nomortalitydata available for 22 February and 13–15March 1784). by the ice flood thanby theextreme frost inearly January (Fig.3). Thewarningandevacuation systems inViennaduring the ice flood seem tohavebeen relatively successful in reducing the loss of life.47 Nevertheless, theWiener Zeitung also reported that several unidentifiedpeoplewere killed during the ice flood; it is likely that theywerehomeless individuals or travellers: ImMonatFebruard. J. [1784] sind indemHerrschaftDürnkrutter freyenLandgerichte imsogenanntenEbersdor- ferfeld zwey erfrorne unbekannteMannspersonen gefundenworden, wovon der erste bey 40 Jahre alt, und von grosser Statur ist, ein länglicht runzlichtesAngesicht, schwarz abgeschnitteneHaare, schwarzeAugenbraumen [sic] undBart, amLeibeinenKopernitz, […]der zweyte ist bey 18 Jahrealt, hatte ein rundesGesicht, undkeinen Bart, schwarz abgeschnitteneHaare, […]dann schienenbeydedemAnsehennachausMähren zu sein […]. (InFebruary [1784] twomalepersonswere found frozen todeath in theareaofDürnkrut in the so-calledEbers- dorferfeld (Lower Austria), of whom the first is about 40 years old, large, with a long, narrowwrinkled face, black short-cut hair, blackeye-browsandbeard,wearingaKopernitz coat, […] the second isabout 18yearsold, large, with a round-shaped face and no beard, black, short-cut hair, […] They both seem to have come from Moravia […]).48 The ice floodof 1830 The first third of the 19th century was part of the so-called DaltonMinimum (1790–1835), a periodwith low solar activity. Severewinters and cool summers were quite common during that time, and for the years following 1808/1809 and 1815, volcanic eruptions brought short- term climatic extremes, such as the ‘yearwithout a summer’ in 1816 after the Tambora erup- tion.49 The ice flood of 1830 in Central Europewas similar to the one in 1784. Again,most of theCentralEuropeanrivers froze, including theDanubeRiverand itscatchmentandtherivers in the Czech lands and central Germany.50 Besides the sources available for 1784 (i.e. news- papers, instrumental measurements), the pictorial evidence is even better for 1830. In addi- tion, the Viennese eyewitness Franz Sartori described the situation in Vienna in a 248- 47 Brázdil et al. 2010, 180f. 48Wiener Zeitung, 17March 1784, 560f. 49 Cf.Wood2014;Behringer 2015;Krämer 2015. 50 Cf.Strömmer2003,295–301 forLowerAustria, including thecityofVienna;Poliwoda2007, 194–203 forSaxony.