MEDC - Central Europe floods, 2013

3.6.1 LEDC - North India floods, 2013

3.7 River management

MEDC - Central Europe floods, 2013

  1. Overview

    1. Heavy rain in early June began extreme flooding in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic

  2. Impacts

    1. Primary

      1. 25 people died
      2. Over 100 thousand people evacuated
      3. Transport links were flooded, causing trains to be cancelled

    2. Secondary

      1. A cost of over $16 billion, about a quarter of which is insurance
      2. Sewage water polluted the water supply in Budapest
      3. Travellers’ plans were disrupted
      4. The tourism industry suffered, and a music festival was cancelled

  3. Responses

    1. Short-term

      1. In Hungary, 8 thousand soldiers, 8 thousand emergency personnel, 1600 water management experts and 3600 police officers were mobilised
      2. Over 15 million sandbags were used to strengthen flood defences
      3. Coca-cola donated water packets

    2. Long-term

      1. A thousand soldiers from the Czech army were summoned to rebuild flood defences
      2. German authorities used satellite data to help the emergency services plan their response
      3. “Room for the river” and similar concepts were adopted, wherein the river is given more room to overflow in specific locations, such as by lowering floodplains and dykes
      4. “Green infrastructure”, a networks of designed natural ecosystems, was developed, such as wetland which can absorb excess rainwater