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At the turn of March and April 2006, the Elbe River basin was hit by a flood that was caused by the melting of extraordinary high snow pack, supported by rainfall.
The analysis of historic floods and long-term hydrological observations show that this flood was a significant one. The Elbe River watercourse and all its tributaries (with the exception of the Black Elster River) experienced long-lasting flood situations during which there were some collisions of flood wave culminations.
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| Dresden, 04.04.2006
Photo: A. Simon |
The Elbe peak flows reached the occurrence rates of 5 to 50 years and, on some of the tributaries, the occurrence rates exceeded the 100-year mark. The flood along the upper Elbe watercourse can be classified as an extreme one, concerning the amount of water that passed through. At the reviewed stations, with the exception of the Neu Darchau station, the volume occurrence values were greater than the peak flow occurrence values. At some stations (on the Luznice and the Sazava rivers) the volume occurrence values reached or exceeded the 100-year mark. The damage in the Elbe River basin was estimated at 240 mill. EUR.
The hydrological evaluation of the spring 2006 flood in the Elbe River basin by the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River (ICPER) analyses and documents the causes and the development of this flood; these greatly differ from those of the catastrophic flood of summer 2002. The documentation is available in electronic form and on paper, printed in a Czech-German language version.
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