The bridge has been exposed to the onslaught of floods several times throughout the centuries, for example in 1432 and 1768. The most recent being the "thousand year flood" of 2002, when the Otava water level rose so high that it tore off a stone wall. Despite the current's fifty-fold increase in force, however, the bridge structure withstood the flood. The flood water removed the railings and some statues. After the flood, town of Písek started a general bridge reconstruction. The railings and statues were repaired; copy of the lost statue was recreated and the structure was retrofitted with a net of concrete and iron tubes. The bridge repair was enabled thanks to a public fundraiser that spontaneously started after the flood.