Flood Protection in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Floods as extreme hydrological phenomena can influence many spheres of human life due to their destructive effects and significant expenses on required measures taken. Variable parameters of floods and their irregular occurrence unfavourably complicate risk management. This fact leads to complications in the systematic accomplishment of flood control measures. Flood control measures never provide absolute protection, and certain risk has to be always considered in flood-prone areas. However, negative flood effects may be reduced by implementing relevant flood control measures in the threatened area. Since the year 2007 in Europe, the flood protection concept is harmonized with the Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the assessment and management of flood risks (https://www.eea.europa.eu/policy-documents/directive-2007-60-ec-of). During the past decade, the Czech Republic has prepared flood management tools which have been verified on hundreds of case studies. Currently, the Directive has been completely implemented, and flood management program is part of river basin plans. In this chapter, the main flood protection and flood risk-related issues are discussed. Firstly, the historical background is mentioned and discussed. Special attention is paid to the process of flood risk methodology and its applications at practical flood protection solutions. The present state of flood protection in the Czech Republic is briefly mentioned too.