The accumulated flood must swamp the capital, and that soon. The
river had ceased to flow past; it was no longer the "blue Danube"
running merrily its five miles an hour, but a dead sea, an inexorable
volume of water, slowly, silently creeping up to engulf us. Pest is a
city which literally has its foundations made on the sand; a portion of
it is built on the old bed of the Danube. Assuming a certain point as
zero, the official measurements were made from this, and notices were
published that if a maximum of twenty-five feet were attained by the
rising waters, then Pest must inevitably be flooded.
As evening came on, with the cloudy forecast of more rain, the gravest
anxiety was visible on the face of every soul of that vast multitude.
This anxiety was intensified when it was announced that the latest
measurement was twenty-four feet nine inches; and what was simply
appalling, that the register marked six inches rise in less than an
hour. It was clear to every one that the critical moment had arrived.
There was little to hope, and much to fear. Darkness fell upon as dismal
a scene as imagination could well conceive. If the water once overlapped
the embankment at the fruit-market, it must very soon pour in in vast
volume; for the streets there are considerably lower than the level of
the Corso--as it was, several large blocks of ice had floated or slid
over on the quay. At this spot a serious catastrophe was apprehended.
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