The Red Weißeritz () is a river of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The Red Weißeritz is the right headstream of the

Weißeritz The Weißeritz (; also: ''Vereinigte Weißeritz'' in German i.e. United Weißeritz, ''Bystrica'' in Sorbian) is a river of Saxony, Germany. It is long and a left tributary of the Elbe. The river is formed by the confluence of the Wild Weißer ...

. It is long. The river's source is the Eastern Ore Mountains near Altenberg at a height of about 787 metres. It drops through a height of 606 metres as it heads north-west, running through Schmiedeberg, the district town of

Dippoldiswalde Dippoldiswalde (; Saxon: ''Dipps'') is a town in Saxony, Germany, part of the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district. It is situated 23 km east of Freiberg, and 18 km south of Dresden. The town is situated on the Weisseritz railway ...

and ending in

Freital Freital is a town in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on a small river, the Weißeritz, and is southwest of Dresden. Geography Freital is located southwest of Dresden in the Döhlen Ba ...

where it forms the

together with the longer tributary of the Wild Weißeritz. The was built between 1908 and 1913 between Dippoldiswalde and Freital for flood protection reasons after the 1897 floods. The deep valley is an important transport route. It is an historic approach to a major

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

over the Ore Mountains (the ''Graupen Pass''). The Weisseritz railway runs through the Weißeritz valley up to (a district of Altenberg), climbing about 350 metres in height. The B 170 federal road follows the river bank between Dippoldiswalde and Waldbärenburg where it leaves the valley, climbing through three

hairpin turn A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal ha ...

s. The Red Weißeritz caused massive destruction during the

2002 European floods In August 2002, a week of intense rainfall produced flooding across a large portion of Europe. It reached the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine and Russia. The event killed 2 ...

.Flood protection along the Red Weisseritz river in the Eastern Ore Mountains - Germany
/ref> Housing and especially road infrastructure and the Weisseritz railway was destroyed or damaged over a wide area. The flood

retention basin A retention basin, sometimes called a retention pond, wet detention basin, or storm water management pond (SWMP), is an artificial pond with vegetation around the perimeter and a permanent pool of water in its design. It is used to manage ...

of the Malter Reservoir completely overflowed. The area around the source of the river received precipitation of up to 312 mm in 24 hours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Weisseritz Rivers of Saxony Rivers of the Ore Mountains Rivers of Germany

See also

References