Geografie 2000, 105, 141-154

https://doi.org/10.37040/geografie2000105020141

Long-Term Impacts of the 1997 Floods in the Morava River Basin

Antonín Vaishar, Pavlína Hlavinková, Karel Kirchner, Jan Lacina

Ústav geoniky AV ČR, pobočka Brno, PO Box 23, 613 00 Brno, Czechia

In 1997 disastrous floods, unparalleled since meteorological and climatic measurements have been carried out, took place in the catchment of the Morava river and other Moravian rivers. The long-term impacts of the above-mentioned flood event on the landscape and society have been examined in four selected model areas with different natural and economic characteristics. Within the natural system, the long-term impacts include changes in riverbeds, landslides and changes in the biota. Within the social system, the most significant adverse impacts include the long-term damage to the psychical health of those affected by the flood. The main causes of the flood damage are connected with the formation of the settlement pattern during the period of industrialisation and urbanisation. The main methods of flood protection include the relocation of structures outside inundated areas, technical control and the adaptation to flood risks.

Funding

This contribution has been prepared as part of the grant project of the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Nr. IAA3086903 "Floods, Landscape and People in the Morava River Basin".