St. Petersburg is famous for its white nights, drawbridges and floods. Who of the Leningrad schoolchildren did not run to look at the rising water of the Neva? After the construction of the Complex of Protective Structures (in the common people – a dam), the likelihood of flooding decreased significantly. Nowadays, the rise of water is seen more as a fun, rather than a disaster. But even in the last century, this was not at all the case.

In 1924, on September 23, the west wind created a surge, and by seven o’clock in the evening the water level rose to 380 cm above ordinary. The 210th flood was the second in terms of water rise during the observation period.

There was great destruction in Leningrad. All wooden pavements were washed away, the basements of various buildings were flooded. For example, the cellars of the ethnographic department of the Russian Museum, as well as the cellars of the Mikhailovsky Palace. The Mikhailovsky and Summer Gardens also suffered irreparable damage. In the Summer Garden, almost all the sculptures were overturned by the elements. About 550 trees were felled. All the stalls were destroyed, and the garden was littered with wooden checkers from the city’s pavements.

After the flood, volunteers came to restore the Summer Garden. They raised sculptures, removed pavement checkers and fallen trees. But the consequences continued to affect the garden for a long time. The entire territory of the Summer Garden along the Swan Canal from the side of the Square of the Victims of the Revolution remained deserted due to the massive fall of trees.

Today the water level in Karpiev pond has risen again. Echoes of the past …