Thaya-March floods in 2006

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The floods of the Thaya and March in 2006 affected the catchment areas of the German and Moravian Thaya and also the March twice in the course of the year at different locations and with different effects. Geographically, the damaged areas were in Lower Austria in Austria , in Jihomoravský kraj in the Czech Republic and in Bratislavský kraj in Slovakia .

Spring floods of the Thaya and March

The floods of the Thaya and the March resulted from strong meltwater and precipitation. The strong thaw set in with a low pressure area on March 25, 2006 with temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius. Since the 2005/2006 winter season in particular had a great deal of fresh snow, beginning in November 2005, and hardly any periods of thaw, the amounts of meltwater in spring were above average throughout Austria. In addition, there was heavy rainfall from March 26, especially on the northern edge of the Alps and in northern Austria. The highlight in the Waldviertel was on March 28th.

The main flood events were in the catchment area of ​​the Lainsitz , which drains to the north, as well as the Thaya and subsequently the March. In the area of the water level in Schwarzenau in the Zwettl district, the flood frequency on March 29 reached a probability of 1 to 5 years. The situation in Raabs , where the Moravian Thaya joins the German Thaya, became more catastrophic . In this area, the high water mark reached a 100-year frequency. The flow rate reached a peak of 340 m³ / s, which after 2002 is the next highest value ever measured. Large inflows were also recorded in the Czech Republic, so that the flow rate at the Vranov dam was already 400 m³ / s and from the morning of March 30th it could only be drained via the dam crest. The reservoir above in Nové Mlýny , which receives the left tributaries from the Moravian Highlands, was soon filled.

On the March, floods occur with an annual frequency, especially after the snowmelt, as they come from the Czech area of ​​the upper reaches. However, the March carries the larger amounts of water when there are less frequent floods in summer. In this case the weather situation in Moravia was similar to that in Austria. Here, too, an above-average amount of melt water had to be discharged. Together with the water volume of the Thaya, this led to flow rates of up to 1400 m³ / s at the Angern gauge over a period of more than two days. This amount exceeded all annual maximums by half since 1951. On March 31 and April 1, the flood reached HQ 30 . Although the rainfall subsided, the March continued to rise, so that by April 2nd it already reached an HQ 100 . As a result, dams broke above Angern on April 3rd and 4th at Jedenspeigen , Stillfried and Mannersdorf . These dams should already be renovated, but were still in the UV stage , so that no measures could yet take effect. The complete repair of the dams should be completed by 2012, according to Via donau , which is responsible for the dams.

Damage situation on the Thaya

In Drosendorf the Thaya reached a level six meters with a flow of 300 m³ / s and threatened the camping site in particular, where not only the water but also ice floes up to 65 cm thick threatened the caravans. The power supply was interrupted because EVN had to switch off the power supply. The water supply was also impaired, as it had to be carried out by tanker from Geras .

Damage situation on the March

On Monday, April 3, 2006, the dam of the flood-bearing March broke at Jedenspeigen around 3:30 a.m. Within hours, half of the neighboring village of Dürnkrut was under water, while in Jedenspeigen no significant damage occurred. 350 houses were evacuated in Dürnkrut, 700 people were quartered in emergency quarters in the buildings of the primary and secondary school. The local company Instantina and the train station also had to be evacuated. In the morning the dam broke at a second point near Stillfried. Because of the topographical location of Dürnkrut in a small valley, the water flowed from Jedenspeigen to Dürnkrut and gradually filled it with water. The true extent of the damage only became apparent during the clean-up work. So much leaked heating oil collected in the flooded houses that the fire brigade had to pump out. The damage amounted to around € 100 million.

A total of 600 helpers from the local volunteer fire brigades , the disaster relief service , the Austrian Armed Forces , the police, as well as countless volunteers from the neighboring villages as well as from non-residents were on duty. Since the dam could no longer be repaired from the ground, Blackhawk helicopters , armored hedgehogs and sacks of stones and sand were dropped in order to re-seal the dam. However, it did not succeed until Friday that week. In Dürnkrut itself, from the morning onwards it was only possible to move forward with tractors.

Licht ins Dunkel and other aid organizations started fundraising campaigns for the victims of the flood.

Initially, Mayor Rudolf Reckendorfer indicated a class action lawsuit against the Republic of Austria as a consequence, but this was rejected in the municipal council because the state of Lower Austria would have stopped payments in this case, while payments to victims of other communities had already started. The reason for the lawsuit would have been that it had been known since 1997 that the dam was in need of renovation, but that no renewal had been carried out until the time of the flood.

According to reports, projects from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences are said to exist as early as 1995 , which envisaged relocating the dam further away from the river in order to increase the flow cross-section. The changes were planned in the direction of Jedenspeigen, so that the dam would have been moved approx. 50 m inland and the retention areas would have been considerably enlarged, which, however, was not accepted by the farmers as land assignments would also have been necessary.

June floods of the Thaya

The June floods did not affect as large areas as the previous one. The special thing about this flood was the extremely fast rise of the Thaya. This was preceded by high levels of precipitation throughout June. Enormous amounts of rain in the northern Waldviertel caused the levels of the Thaya and its tributaries to rise extremely quickly. The Waidhofen / Thaya , Gmünd and Horn districts were particularly affected.

The special thing about this flood was the speed of the water level rise after the rainfall on June 29th, especially in the catchment area of ​​the Moravian Thaya . At the Hardegg measuring point, 190 mm of precipitation fell within 24 hours. Due to this high rainfall, the level of the Thaya in the Waldviertel rose up to 5 meters within a short time on June 30, 2006. In Raabs , the main square was one meter under water within two hours. The amount of water was greater than that of the legendary flood in 2002 . The Fugnitz also caused severe damage in Hardegg, where it flows into the Thaya.

In Austria, around 70 villages with around 1500 houses were affected. 22 fire brigades with 3,000 men were deployed to provide assistance.

The city of Gmünd , which lies at the mouth of the Braunaubach in the Lainsitz , was also affected. On June 30th, a disaster alarm was triggered in the morning hours .

The first clean-up work could not be finished until July 2nd. There were around 1,000 helpers in Raabs alone.

The flood caused great damage to the local railway Retz – Drosendorf , the so-called phylloxera express , and to a bridge on Thayatal Straße B30. The Thayatalbahn between Waidhofen and Waldkirchen also suffered badly , which led to the ÖBB completely closing the railway from Waidhofen instead of closing the gap to the Czech border as initially planned.

As in spring, from the second day of the flood (July 1), in addition to the local fire brigades, additional fire brigades from Lower Austria and units of the federal army were deployed as part of the disaster relief service.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flood 2006 ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on via donau on May 5, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hochwasserschutz-march.at
  2. ↑ a b flood in Drosendorf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Page of the Horn District Fire Brigade Command accessed on May 4, 2010@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bfkdo-horn.at  
  3. ↑ TV broadcast: Topic on ORF from Monday, April 10, 2006 21:14 (ORF2)
  4. ^ The flood on the Thaya on 29./30. June 2006, BMLFUW. Retrieved August 24, 2017 .
  5. ^ Flood on the Thayatal National Park website, accessed on May 3, 2010
  6. ↑ Information on the current flood situation in Gmünd  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved on May 5, 2010 on the Lower Austrian Red Cross website@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / old.n.roteskreuz.at  
  7. ↑ Nope: Cleanup work after the June flood 2006 completed on fireworld.at from July 2, 2006, accessed on May 3, 2010
  8. ↑ Hofbauer: Recommissioning and continuation of the Thayatalbahn initiative in the Lower Austrian state parliament at the APA on June 17, 2007, accessed on May 5, 2010
  9. ↑ Discussion about Thayatalbahn on ORF from November 18, 2007, accessed on October 25, 2013
  10. ↑ Flood in the Waidhofen district ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Waldviertelnews.at of July 2, 2006, accessed on May 5, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.waldviertelnews.at

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