Abstract
Abstract. The summer flood of 2013 set a new record for large-scale floods in Germany for at least the last 60 years. In this paper we analyse the key hydro-meteorological factors using extreme value statistics as well as aggregated severity indices. For the long-term classification of the recent flood we draw comparisons to a set of past large-scale flood events in Germany, notably the high-impact summer floods from August 2002 and July 1954. Our analysis shows that the combination of extreme initial wetness at the national scale – caused by a pronounced precipitation anomaly in the month of May 2013 – and strong, but not extraordinary event precipitation were the key drivers for this exceptional flood event. This provides additional insights into the importance of catchment wetness for high return period floods on a large scale. The database compiled and the methodological developments provide a consistent framework for the rapid evaluation of future floods.
Highlights
In June 2013, wide parts of central Europe were hit by large-scale flooding
In the Weser catchment the Werra sub-catchment was affected most – in particular the discharges in the Hasel and Schmalkalde tributaries were on an exceptional flood level (by the Federal Institute for Hydrology (BfG), 2013)
We introduce severity indices for these factors to evaluate their relative importance among the event set
Summary
In June 2013, wide parts of central Europe were hit by large-scale flooding. southern and eastern Germany were affected, and other countries such as Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Serbia. Almost all main river systems in Germany showed high water levels: the Elbe between Coswig and Lenzen, the Saale downstream of Halle, and the Danube at Passau experienced new record water levels. In the Weser and Rhine catchments exceptional flood magnitudes were, observed only locally in some smaller tributaries. The area affected most in the Rhine catchment was the Neckar with its tributaries Eyach and Starzel. As a consequence of major dike breaches at the Danube in Fischerdorf near Deggendorf, at the confluence of the Saale and Elbe rivers at Rosenburg, and at the Elbe near Fischbeck, large areas were inundated with strong impacts on society in terms of direct damage and interruption of transportation systems (see Fig. A1 in the Appendix for geographic locations)
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