Review article

Historical floods along the Danube River from 1012 to the present

Stevan Prohaska orcid.org/0000-0002-0348-6574 ; Water Management Institute "Jaroslav Černi", Belgrade, Serbia
Pavla Pekarova orcid.org/0000-0002-1180-2215 ; Institute of Hydrology, Slovac Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Aleksandra Ilić ; Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Niš, Serbia
Milena Jelovac ; Water Management Institute "Jaroslav Černi", Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

The paper provides a chronological overview of all significant floods that have occurred along the Danube River from the Middle Ages to the present time. The overview begins with the first recorded flood in 1012 and ends with 2013. Considering different data sources that were used, for the description of floods in the past we used a historical period longer than 1100, divided into three characteristic periods: the 1012-1500 period (Antiquity), for which floods were assessed based on materials from the historical archives, such as original manuscripts, newspaper excerpts, written chronicles, formal letters, maps and photographs; the 1501-1820 period, for which floods were assessed based on the hydraulic reconstruction of traces (marks) of recorded maximum water levels on old buildings, religious buildings, etc.; and the period from 1821 to the present, for which floods were assessed based on official data and measurements of state hydrometeorological services in the Danube countries. From the recorded series of significant floods along the Danube, we have separated those that are, according to the values of the basic parameters of flood hydrographs – maximum hydrograph ordinate – Qmax (m3/s) and flood wave volume W (106 m3), above the exceedance probability:
P {Qmax ≥ qmax,p) ∩ (Wmax ≥ wmax,p)} = 1.0%
These floods are called historical floods. The paper presents the relevant return periods T (Qmax ∩ Wmax) for all recorded historical floods along the Danube, from its source to the dam of the HPP Đerdap, for which the multiannual period from 1012 to the present was considered.

Keywords

historical floods, flood wave; flood hydrograph; maximum ordinate; wave volume; exceedance probability; return period

Hrčak ID:

223139

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/223139

Publication date:

28.6.2019.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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