Dunaföldvár

Dunaföldvár stands on the right bank of the Danube in the north-east corner of Tolna County, at river kilometre 1560.6. Its zero is fixed at 88.86 metres, and every reading is a signed number of centimetres against it: the Danube Commission sets a low-water mark (LDC) of -116 centimetres and a high-water mark (HDC) of 550. At 17:00 on 24 October 2026 the Danube water level at Dunaföldvár was -225 centimetres, 109 below the LDC and 775 below the HDC; the OVF forecast points to -218 within a day and -223 within three. Negative readings do not mean a dry riverbed: the surface has simply fallen under the fixed point.

The Sills and the October 2026 Record

Zero marks a surveyed elevation, not the height the river normally runs at. In 2026 the water stayed below the LDC on 222 of the 297 days with readings. At noon on 8 October the gauge touched -241 centimetres, six below the previous record and the lowest ever measured here. The first nine months were the driest since 1901, and BME researchers reckon the bed of the Hungarian Danube has sunk by almost 1.8 metres in six decades. At such levels the sills at kilometres 1561.0–1560.0 and 1559.8–1558.5 become obstacles to navigation. For anyone following the Danube water level at Dunaföldvár, October is the critical month.

The 2013 Flood and the High Waters

In June 2013 the river rose to 721 centimetres here, the highest reading the gauge has recorded and 18 above the 703 of 1965. It stayed above the first-degree flood-defence line for 156 hours, while almost two kilometres of temporary dikes made from 23,000 sandbags went up around the town. The floods of 2006 reached 691 centimetres, 2002 reached 685 and 1954 reached 651. In March 1956 ice stopped right at Dunaföldvár, between kilometres 1560.6 and 1558.0. September 2024 was different: the water climbed from 158 centimetres on the 16th to 637 on the 22nd, the highest of the series shown but still short of 2013, and the town moved into second-degree defence.

The Bridge, the Town and Its Neighbours

Built in 1928–1930, blown up in 1944 and rebuilt, the Beszédes József Bridge lost its railway tracks after 2000, when the deck was asphalted. It is named after the engineer who led the regulation of the Danube; he is buried in the town. Dunaföldvár has 8,077 inhabitants and sits where the borders of Tolna, Bács-Kiskun and Fejér meet. The floodplain narrows to 450 metres, one of the narrowest flood sections in Hungary. The river comes down from Budapest, 86 kilometres upstream, passes the Dunaújváros gauge, 20 kilometres, and runs on towards Paks, 29 kilometres downstream.