1. St. Petersburg’s citizens frequently speak ill about the city’s founder, Peter the Great. Every time it’s windy, rainy, cold, or floods, his name is mentioned with spite.
2. This September the beautiful Northern city witnessed its 310th flood, which ground all transport to a halt, caused dozens of car accidents, and felled many trees. The water level rose to 1.79 m.
3. But think about this: more than 90 years ago, in 1924, the water level reached 3.69 m.
4. It was the second biggest flood in the history of St. Petersburg (called Leningrad at the time).
5. The rising water damaged street cobbles and in some
6. To prevent looting the authorities enforced military law.
7. St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 on
8. Because of the frequent bad weather and grey color of the canals, sky, and streets, historically many locals have suffered from depression and are often in a bad mood. In this gloomy city, Dostoevsky’s downtrodden characters thrived.
9. The
10. The flood ruined bridges and even washed away graveyards, causing coffins to float along the streets.
Read more: Rasputin and Nicholas II: Pre-revolutionary Russia through a German lens
If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.
Subscribe
to our newsletter!
Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox
