Exceptional floods in the Prut basin, Romania, in the context of heavy rains in the summer of 2010

Gheorghe Romanescu,Cristian Constantin Stoleriu

doi:10.5194/nhess-17-381-2017

Gheorghe Romanescu, Cristian Constantin Stoleriu

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-381-2017

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Abstract

Abstract. The year 2010 was characterized by devastating flooding in central and eastern Europe, including Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. This study focuses on floods that occurred during the summer of 2010 in the Prut River basin, which has a high percentage of hydrotechnical infrastructure. Strong floods occurred in eastern Romania on the Prut River, which borders the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, and the Siret River. Atmospheric instability from 21 June to 1 July 2010 caused remarkable amounts of rain, with rates of 51.2 mm/50 min and 42.0 mm/30 min. In the middle Prut basin, there are numerous ponds that help mitigate floods as well as provide water for animals, irrigation, and so forth. The peak discharge of the Prut River during the summer of 2010 was 2310 m3 s−1 at the Rădăuţi-Prut gauging station. High discharges were also recorded on downstream tributaries, including the Baseu, Jijia, and Miletin. High discharges downstream occurred because of water from the middle basin and the backwater from the Danube (a historic discharge of 16 300 m3 s−1). The floods that occurred in the Prut basin in the summer of 2010 could not be controlled completely because the discharges far exceeded foreseen values.

Highlights

Catastrophic floods occurred during the summer of 2010 in central and eastern Europe
The most deaths were recorded in Poland (25), Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic (Romanescu and Stoleriu, 2013a, b)
The majority of floods in Romania are influenced by climate factors, manifesting at local and European levels (Andrei et al, 2011; Birsan, 2015; Birsan and Dumitrescu, 2014; Birsan et al, 2012; Chendes et al, 2015; Corduneanu et al, 2016)

Summary

Introduction

Catastrophic floods occurred during the summer of 2010 in central and eastern Europe. Strong flooding usually occurs at the end of spring and the beginning of summer. Among the most heavily affected countries were Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro (Bissolli et al, 2011; Szalinska et al, 2014) (Fig. 1). For Romania, we underlined the floods from the basins of Prut, Siret, Moldova, and Bistrita rivers. The most devastating floods in Romania occurred in Moldavia (Prut, Siret) and Transylvania (Tisa, Somes, Tarnave, Olt). The most deaths were recorded in Poland (25), Romania (six on the Buhai River, a tributary of the Jijia), Slovakia (three), Serbia (two), Hungary (two), and the Czech Republic (two) (Romanescu and Stoleriu, 2013a, b)

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