The Weißeritz (; also: ''Vereinigte Weißeritz'' in German i.e. United Weißeritz, ''Bystrica'' in Sorbian) 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 ...

. It is long and a left tributary of the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

. The river is formed by the confluence of the Wild Weißeritz and Red Weißeritz 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 ...

. The Weißeritz runs through Freital and

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. It crosses the deep valley ''Plauenscher Grund'' between Freital and Dresden and enters the Dresden Basin. The railway line from Dresden to Nuremberg runs next to the river in this close valley. The river is displaced in an old sidearm in Dresden for flood protection reasons and therefore canalised. In Dresden, it enters the Elbe from the left. Its sorbian name is derived from west Slavic ''bystrica'' (clear water). The official name of the river used in documents and hydrographic maps is ''Vereinigte Weißeritz'' (United Weißeritz). The highest points of the Weißeritz watershed are at about elevation. Nevertheless, the Wild Weißeritz is the longest tributary, the watersheds of both Weißeritz rivers are almost equal in area ( and ). The Weißeritz caused severe damage during the 2002 European floods in Dresden and Freital. The river reached Dresden Central Station as well as the Zwinger and flooded some districts of the inner city. Due to the river's high fall from 188 m to 106 m in Dresden some houses were completely destroyed in the torrential flood. The river left its canalised bed near the inner city and went through its old run directly towards the Elbe river.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weisseritz Rivers of Saxony Rivers of Germany

See also

References