PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE SLOVAK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Publication of the Slovak Committee for Hydrology – NC IHP UNESCO Monograph No. 12 This monograph is a contribution of the Slovak Committee for Hydrology (SCH) to the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO, phase VIII Focal Area 1.5 - Improve scientific basis for hydrology and water sciences for preparation and response to extreme hydrological events, and to the Regional co-operation of the Danube countries in the framework of IHP UNESCO. Particularly it contributes to the project No. 9 Flood regime of rivers in the Danube River basin within the Regional co-operation of the Danube countries. Editorial board of the monograph series Chairman: RNDr. Pavol Miklánek, CSc. Members: Prof. Ing. Ján Szolgay, PhD. Ing. Dana Halmová, PhD. Prof. RNDr. Miriam Fendeková, CSc. RNDr. Katarína Holubová, PhD. Ing. Jana Poórová, PhD. Translation: authors Reviewed by: RNDr. Gabriela Babiaková, CSc. Doc. Ing. Silvia Kohnová, PhD. PAVLA PEKÁROVÁ PAVOL MIKLÁNEK MARIÁN MELO DANA HALMOVÁ JÁN PEKÁR VERONIKA BAČOVÁ MITKOVÁ Flood marks along the Danube River between Passau and Bratislava Bratislava, 2014 This work was supported by the Science and Technology Assistance Agency under contract no. APVV-0015-10. Printing of the monograph was supported by the Slovak Commission for UNESCO. © P. Pekárová, P. Miklánek, M. Melo, D. Halmová, J. Pekár, V. Bačová Mitková ISBN 978-80-224-1408-1 CONTENTS Preface .............................................................................................................. 8 1 Description of the Danube River Basin ................................................. 9 1.1 Climatic conditions .............................................................. 12 1.1.1 Temperature ................................................................ 12 1.1.2 Precipitation ................................................................. 13 1.1.3 Runoff .......................................................................... 17 1.2 Flood regime along the Danube River ................................. 21 2 The Danube flood marks between Passau and Bratislava ............... 26 2.1 The Danube floods in the middle age .................................. 26 2.2 The Danube floods within the 1501–1876 period ................ 28 3 Flood marks in Bratislava before instrumental period ....................... 45 3.1 Summer floods in Bratislava ................................................ 45 3.1.1 Flood of 1501 and 1670 ............................................... 45 3.1.2 Flood of October and November 1787 ........................ 51 3.2 Ice floods in Bratislava ........................................................ 51 3.2.1 Flood marks from the year 1775 .................................. 52 3.2.2 Flood marks from the year 1809 .................................. 53 3.2.3 Flood marks from the year 1850 .................................. 57 4 Flood marks at Bratislava during the 1876–2013 period.................... 62 4.1 Summer floods .................................................................... 68 4.1.1 Flood of August 1897 .................................................. 69 4.1.2 Flood of September 1899 ............................................ 70 4.1.3 Flood of July 1954 ....................................................... 72 4.1.4 Flood in the year 1965 ................................................. 73 5 Pekárová, P., Miklánek, P., Melo, M., Halmová, D., Pekár, J., Bačová Mitková, V. 4.1.5 Flood of August 2002 .................................................. 74 4.1.6 Flood of May / June 2013 ............................................. 76 4.2 Winter and snowmelt floods ................................................ 78 4.2.1 Flood of the year 1876 ................................................. 78 4.2.2 Comparison of the 1895 and 2006 Danube floods ...... 80 4.2.2.1 Maximum annual discharge at Bratislava and Orsova ......... 83 5 Flood frequency analysis with historical information ........................ 89 5.1 Flood regime analysis of the Danube River at Bratislava .... 89 5.2 Catastrophic flood scenario ................................................. 92 6 Conclusions ........................................................................................... 96 7 References ............................................................................................. 98 6 Flood marks along the Danube River between Passau and Bratislava ACKNOWLEDGMENT This monograph summarizes results of long-term research of the Institute of Hydrology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences within the Regional co-operation of the Danube countries in the framework of the IHP UNESCO, and project APVV-0015-10 Identification of changes in hydrological regime of rivers in the Danube River Basin. Publication of the monograph was supported by the Slovak Commission for UNESCO. Part of data used in this monograph were obtained from the database of the project No. 9 „Flood regime of rivers in the Danube River Basin“ of the Regional co-operation of the Danube countries in the framework of IHP UNESCO. This publication is the result of the project implementation ITMS 26240120004 Centre of excellence for integrated flood protection of land supported by the Research & Development Operational Programme funded by the ERDF. 7 Pekárová, P., Miklánek, P., Melo, M., Halmová, D., Pekár, J., Bačová Mitková, V. Preface Floods on the Danube occurred through the whole history. Floods belong to the extreme natural phenomena, which have their place in the Danube Basin. The first records of floods are known from the year 1012. During the last 1000 years there are known at least 5 floods (in 1012, 1210, 1501, 1670 and 1787), which probably did exceed the discharge of 11 500 m3s-1 at Bratislava (Neweklowsky, 1955; Kresser, 1957; Szlávik, 2002). In the instrumented period, since 1876, the highest discharge of 10 870 m3s-1 was observed on 17 September 1899 at the water stage of 970 cm at Bratislava gauge. The highest water level of 1 034 cm was recorded during the May/June flood in 2013 with discharge of 10 640 m3s-1. Measured hydrological data series on the Danube River are limited. Instrumental data can be completed by documentary data from historical sources from different archive documents (Bel, 1735; Neweklowsky, 1955; Kresser, 1957; Szlávik, 2002; Horváthová, 2003; Rohr, 2005, 2007; Brázdil and Kundzewicz, 2006; Kiss, 2009; Kiss and Laszlovszky, 2013; Munzar et al., 2006; Przybylak et al., 2010; Kiss, 2011; Pišút, 2011; Stankoviansky and Pišút, 2011; Brázdil et al., 2010; Brázdil et al., 2012; Elleder et al., 2013; Melo and Bernáthová, 2013; Pekárová et al., 2013). Most of the presented information about historical floods in the Upper Danube area has its origin in flood marks, in newspaper articles, chronicles, official letters, books, maps and photos. Flood marks contain a brief description of a flooding event with indication of peak flood water level. In cities located along the Upper Danube (e.g. Passau, Linz, Mauthausen, Grain, Ybbs, Melk, Krems, or Hainburg an der Donau), there can be found more flood marks of the historical floods, even since the year 1501. In this monograph we focused on the history of floods and extreme flood frequency analysis of the Upper Danube River at Bratislava. We describe the flood marks found on the Upper Danube River from Passau up to region of Bratislava, Slovakia. Then, we analyse the annual maximum discharge series for the period 1876–2013, including the most recent flood of June 2013. Finally, we compare the values of T-year design discharge computed with and without incorporating the historical floods (floods of the years 1501, 1682, and 1787 into the 138-years series of annual maximum discharges). 8 Flood marks along the Danube River between Passau and Bratislava 1 Description of the Danube River Basin The Danube River Basin is the Europe's second largest river basin, with a total area of 817 000 km² (Fig. 1.1). It is the world's most international river basin. In January 2008 the Danube Basin included the territories of 19 countries. Its river basin is situated between the headwater regions of the Rhine and the Dnieper River. The bee-line distance between the springs of the Danube in the Black Forest Mountains and its embouchure into the Black Sea is 1 630 km (Domokos in Brilly, 2010). The Danube River has a total length of 2 857 km. About one third of the Danube River Basin is mountainous. The highest points in the Danube Basin are Piz Bernina (4 052 m a.s.l.) in the southern reach and Peak Kriváň (2 496 m a.s.l.) in the northern reach (Fig. 1.2). The average altitude of the Danube catchment is 475 m a.s.l. Regensburg Pfeling Hoffkirchen Ingolstatd Achleiten Krems Berg Bratislava Linz Wien Nagymaros e b u n a Mohac D Bezdan Ceatal Reni Bogojevo Pancevo Orsova Veliko Zimnicea Gradiste Fig. 1.1 The Danube River Basin scheme, stations along the Danube River. 9 Pekárová, P., Miklánek, P., Melo, M., Halmová, D., Pekár, J., Bačová Mitková, V. Fig. 1.2 The Danube River Basin scheme, orography. The Danube Basin can be subdivided into three main parts (Fig. 1.3), and the Danube delta: • the Upper Danube region, between the springs and the Devín Gate (Porta Hungarica), (133 m a.s.l., 1 880 rkm, 131 338 km2, 2 051 m3s-1); • the Central Danube region between the Devín Gate and the Iron Gate (60 m a.s.l., 930 rkm, 444 894 km2, 5 585 m3s-1 at Turnu Severin/Orsova gauge); • the Lower Danube region, between the Iron Gate and the Danube’s embouchure into