The Wena Automotive Museum in Oława opened in June 2024. The facility immediately began to be visited by thousands of tourists, who were impressed by the scale of this private enterprise. Several hundred cars, motorcycles and bicycles were collected in two interconnected halls. Oława also collected objects from times gone by or genre scenes such as a real shop from the Polish People's Republic, a CPN petrol station or a Ruch kiosk. Among the exhibits are several agricultural tractors, including the MAN we described.
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The Wen Museum is a place of European standard and it is not surprising that it is so popular among technology enthusiasts from all over the country.
The Odra in Oława was getting higher, the Oława River exceeded the alarm level
On Monday, the museum owner wrote on Facebook about the need to evacuate vehicles from the museum halls.
– We are urgently asking about the availability of tow trucks. The current state of the Odra in Oława on 16.09.2024 at 7:30 is 570 cm. Additionally, the Oława River has exceeded the alarm level. Due to the alarming situation, we have decided to close the museum to visitors from today (until further notice). We are monitoring the situation and within a dozen or so hours we will make a decision to evacuate the vehicles. For this purpose, we are already preparing a base in a safe place (10 km from Oława). A possible evacuation will have to be efficient, which is why we are preparing a base of available tow trucks with quick access and response. We need several dozen pieces of equipment that will make several trips – it was written on the profile of the museum in Oława.
The museum is located just 500 m from the Odra River and 1 km from the Oława River. In 1997, there was no flooding in this place, but the owners of Wena wanted to have a ready plan for the worst-case scenario. The ground level at the museum is 129 m above sea level.
The Wena Museum is a huge undertaking and very important for tourism in the region, photo by K.Pawłowski With each passing hour, the river levels rose, as did the number of reports from “tow truck drivers” and volunteers wanting to help. Therefore, a decision was made to evacuate. Residents and volunteers in the city spent the entire Monday arranging sandbags and other safeguards.
In the evening the museum was already empty.
The removal of vehicles took all of Monday. By evening, the museum was empty. Will the water reach the premises? Hopefully not. Some elements of the exhibition equipment, equipment necessary for the restaurant and bar, and the new, shiny halls that have welcomed hundreds of thousands of tourists so far, remained in place.
– The museum is being evacuated. We would like to thank everyone for their help, many phone calls and support. At the moment, the situation is under control and we are practically finishing the evacuation. Thanks to the huge support of employees, tow truck drivers and volunteers, we managed to remove and secure several hundred vehicles – the museum wrote on Facebook.
It turns out that the evacuation made sense. On Tuesday morning, the Odra indicators already showed 710 cm, which is only 56 cm from the record level from 1997. The most water came at night. The Oława-Lipki flood polder was also opened. This polder was built and designed to protect the city of Oława from flooding in the event of a flood. Its task is to absorb the peak wave.
– The current height of the Odra in Oława is 720 cm. The river has grown 140 cm in 24 hours and is still growing. The height of the Odra in 1997 was 766 cm and now we are only 46 cm short of that level. The residents of Oława are bravely defending themselves and are preparing large quantities of sandbags. We are still waiting for the peak wave, but we hope that the city of Oława will defend itself – it was written this morning on the profile of the Wena Motor Museum in Oława.
Ursus C-330 from the Wena collection, photo by K.Pawłowski
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