The Alme is a long

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is a left tributary of the

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The d ...

, into which it flows near

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

. The Alme defines the Alme Valley and flows through the towns Büren,

Borchen Borchen is a municipality in the district of Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Borchen is situated in the Paderborn tableland, approximately 5 km south of Paderborn. The municipality also contains a small p ...

and Paderborn.

Tributaries

Nette Nette can refer to: Rivers * Nette (Innerste), a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, tributary to the Innerste * Nette (Hase), a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, tributary to the Hase * Nette (Middle Rhine), a river in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, tr ...

* Gosse (river) *

Afte Afte is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a tributary of the river Alme, into which it flows in Büren. See also *List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia A list of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: A * Aa, left tr ...

Altenau Altenau () is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the town Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It is situated in the middle of the Harz mountains, between Clausthal-Zellerf ...

History

Flood of 1965

In July 1965 a devastating flood occurred, which became part of regional history as a once-in-a-hundred-years flooding and is remembered by locals as the "Heinrichsflut" (Henry's Day Flood). After heavy rainfalls from July 15 through to 17 (more than 135 L/m²), basements were flooded. In the village of

Wewelsburg Wewelsburg () is a Renaissance castle located in the village of Wewelsburg, which is a district of the town of Büren, Westphalia, in the ''Landkreis'' of Paderborn in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The castle has a triangular ...

a bridge collapsed, an Army sapper unit had to be brought in for disaster relief. Streets turned into river beds, railway and bus traffic had to be stopped, 16 people died. As a consequence of the flood, which also took in the tributaries of the Alme and the Lippe river itself, the " Wasserverband Obere Lippe" (board for basin management of the upper Lippe river) was founded, one of whose aims is to prevent or mitigate any damage that may be caused by further floods mainly by way of building

detention basin A detention basin or retarding basin is an excavated area installed on, or adjacent to, tributaries of rivers, streams, lakes or bays to protect against flooding and, in some cases, downstream erosion by storing water for a limited period of time ...

Flood of 2007

On August 22, 2007 the Alme river burst its banks around the town of Büren, after heavy rainfalls of some 70 L/m² in the course of one night. In the village of Weine the flood level exceeded that of 1965. Even though the flood was less sweeping in effect than the "Heinrichsflut",see paragraph above or entry "Heinrichsflut" on German Wikipedia schools in Büren had to finish early and send the pupils home, some streets became impassable. 220 local firefighters supported by emergency response units of

THW The (THW, English: ''Federal Agency for Technical Relief'') is the federal civil protection organisation of Germany. It is controlled by the German federal government. 99% of its 79,543 members (2019) are volunteers. Tasks The tasks of the ...

DLRG The German Life Saving Association (german: Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft or DLRG) is a relief organization for life saving in Germany. The DLRG is the largest voluntary lifesaving organization in the world. With around 560,000 mem ...

and DRK were deployed to clear out flooded basements or to protect houses in low grounds by stacked

sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunkers, shielding gl ...

References

{{Authority control Rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia Rivers of Germany