Oos (River)

The Oos (sometimes called the Oosbach) is a river that enters Baden-Baden from the southeast and runs through the city. After 25 kilometres it joins the Murg near Rastatt.

Course

The Oos rises just below the Scherrhof forest inn, at almost 700 metres. There the Scherrbach, the Kälberwasser and several other, partly nameless brooks come together to form it. The river passes Gaisbach and the Forellenhof, then flows through the districts of Oberbeuern and Lichtental. The Grobbach joins it at Brahmsplatz. At Kloster Lichtenthal (Lichtenthal Abbey) the Oos turns a right angle and then runs beneath the many ornate bridges of the Lichtentaler Allee and the Kaiserallee. Level with the Festspielhaus (festival theatre) it vanishes underground, and it resurfaces at the Lange Straße/Eisenbahnstraße junction. Past the Aumattstadion, the river curves around the Ooswinkel, which owes its name to the course of the Oos at this spot. The Oos then follows Schwarzwaldstraße into the district of Oos, where it splits into two arms. The western arm empties into the Sandbach, which comes from Bühl and reaches the Rhine south of Iffezheim. The northern arm runs east of Sandweier and joins the Murg, which also flows into the Rhine.

History

The course of the Oos was changed in 1245 for political reasons. The Bishop of Strasbourg refused to allow a monastery on what is now Klosterplatz. So the river was diverted until the site of the planned monastery lay on the right bank, and thus in the territory of the Diocese of Speyer. Speyer gave its consent, and nothing more stood in the way of the founding.

A flood in October 1824 caused severe destruction. The river was regulated afterwards, to plans by Johann Gottfried Tulla. The sweeping meanders that wound through the Oos valley were removed and the Oos straightened.

Heavy rain on 28 October 1998 brought severe flooding to the whole of Baden-Baden. A state of emergency took effect at 0:25 on 29 October. In Geroldsau the Grobbach washed away a 50-metre stretch of Geroldsauerstraße. The Oos became a raging torrent. Cellars and underground car parks filled with water. Houses were undermined and left at risk of collapse.^[1]

A serious accident happened at the edge of the Christmas market on 20 December 2015. A 45-year-old man, apparently drunk, had left the market and fell over the railing on the Kaiserallee at the Inselstraße turn-off, down into the paved bed of the Oos. No one else was involved. He sustained the most serious injuries. The fire brigade cleared the Christmas market so that a rescue helicopter could land in the Kurgarten. The man apparently died of his injuries later.

Sources

1. ↑ THW report of 28 October 1998