New book details devastating 1946 Kaunas flood

Historian Gediminas Kasparavičius has unveiled "City Underwater: The Great Kaunas Flood of 1946," a new book meticulously examining a catastrophic natural disaster that struck the Lithuanian city and its surroundings. The work offers a comprehensive account of an episode that brought immense suffering and hardship to residents already grappling with the tumultuous aftermath of World War II and the oppressive Soviet regime.

Kasparavičius, a historian and doctor of sciences affiliated with the Kaunas City Museum, describes the book's aim as presenting a consistent narrative of the 1946 flood, an event that tested the resilience of Kaunas and its inhabitants. The narrative unfolds against a backdrop of political instability, Soviet terror, and the lingering consequences of the war, highlighting how a natural calamity in the spring of 1946 added another layer of tragedy to the lives of Lithuanians.

The book's epigraph, a biblical quote about Noah's flood, underscores the scale of the disaster. On the morning of March 24, 1946, ice jams at the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers caused the Neris to surge through streets, submerging parts of the city and evoking biblical comparisons for the stunned residents. The seven chapters of the book delve into life in Kaunas before, during, and after the flood.

"City Underwater" reconstructs the period using a wealth of historical data, official documents, and poignant personal recollections. It details the post-war struggles, including famine and darkness, the signs that foreshadowed the impending disaster, the submerged city, its victims, the fate of animals, and the loss of cultural treasures. The book also addresses the efforts to mitigate the consequences, the threat of epidemics, aid for the affected, and the investigation into the flood's causes, drawing on sources such as death records from Kaunas churches.

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For the first time, an episode from the history of Kaunas and its surroundings in 1946 is consistently presented, which caused much pain and worry to the residents of that time. At the same time, this study is a story about a city that, facing an unstable political situation, Soviet terror, and the consequences of World War II, also had to endure a trial sent by nature in the spring of 1946. It is a story about a city and its people who survived one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century in Lithuania, and their post-war hardships. It is a story about people who were silenced by the cruel Soviet regime and pushed to the margins of history.