While my beloved is taking her morning shower, I am checking the news on the Wide World Web. The local media are abuzz with stories about flooded basements in and around the Croatian capital. Firefighters are called left and right to pump the water out. There are hundreds of calls this morning. The Sava and its tributaries are on the rise after a few weeks of steady rain, and there is a growing danger of serious flooding. Groundwater is thus rising, too. When my beloved comes out of the shower, I tell her about the flooded basements. She seems nonplussed. “Our basement must be flooded by now, as well,” she comments. And then she tells me that this is kind of normal in her apartment building. She went to see the basement only once just after she bought the apartment, and it was covered with water at the time. Much of Zagreb is actually sitting on the Sava’s floodplain. Wet seasons that winters have become will thus bring ever-greater dangers of flooding. Welcome to climate change!

Addendum (February 13, 2014)

As it turns out, we had a record-breaking night in Zagreb and a good chunk of Croatia around it. According to the meteorologists, the amount of rainfall per unit area has not been as high as yesterday ever since the beginning of measurement. The only problem with the latest news is that there is no mention of the year in question. When does the record start, that is? Not to worry, though. It is likely to be broken again quite soon. The weather is not kidding any longer.