Zgryźliwość kojarzy mi się z radością, która źle skończyła.
Chapter 18
Precipitation Extremes and Disastrous Floods
in Central Europe in July 1897
Jan Munzar and Stanislav Ondráček
18.1 Introduction
The high water of July 1897 which took place in nearly two thirds of the territory
of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, Lower and Upper Austria, and a great part of
Germany brought sights of apocalyptic destruction. Consequences of bitter floods
in 1858 and 1882 having not yet faded away from the memory of inhabitants in the
mountain areas which form a natural boundary between Bohemia and Silesia, the
region was affected from 28 to 30 July 1897 by the precipitation of extreme inten-
sity following after several days of rains (Hellmann 1897, Trabert 1897). All water
courses in the Krkonoše Mts. rapidly overflew the banks on both sides of the border
and the process of destruction began.
18.2 Precipitation Extremes
The rain intensity reached its peak on 29 July 1897 after 8 p.m. Historical records
describing the event of this night paint in bright emotionally the ghastly raging dark
night falling down on the highest Czech mountains, evoking the image of the biblical
Flood. Unlike the biblical event the high water of July 1897 entered the lives of
many thousand people quite unexpectedly and without any warning. Especially the
two main rivers – Labe (Elbe) and Úpa became dimensionless streams of water -
sweeping, pulling down and taking away everything that was standing in their way.
While in the summer of 1997 the hitherto records of multiple-day total precipi-
tation were exceeded in numerous localities in the Czech Republic, the 1-day
total precipitation of 345.1 mm from 29 July 1897 gauged at the Nová Louka
J. Munzar (
) and S. Ondráček
Institute of Geonics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Ostrava, Brno branch,
Drobného 28, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
e-mail: munzar@geonika.cz
R. Przybylak et al. (eds.),
The Polish Climate in the European Context:
An Historical Overview
, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3167-9_18,
© Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2010
389
390
J. Munzar and S. Ondráček
station (780 m a.s.l.) in the Jizerské hory Mts. (Polish: Góry Izerskie, German:
Isergebirge) was not surmounted (Kakos 1997). The 24 h precipitation amount is
likely to be at least a Central-European record until today. Although the 1-day
total precipitation amounts of 300 mm and more are exceptional in Europe’s cli-
mate, they were recorded two times in the summer of 1897: apart from the above
mentioned 345.1 mm, a nearby gauging station Jizerka (formerly Wilhelmshöhe)
in the Jizerské hory Mts. measured an amount of 300 mm on the same day
(Table
18.1
). Czerwiński
(1998)
mentioned as regional daily precipitation
extreme during this synoptical situation 376 mm, but it is undoubtedly a mistake.
On the Polish side was the greatest daily amount of precipitation 239 mm on the
station Śnieżka (1603 m a.s.l.).
During the catastrophic floods in Central Europe in August 2002 a new absolute
German national record was measured (312 mm/day) at the Zinnwald-Georgenfeld
station (877 m a.s. l.) in the Ore Mts. (Czech:Krušné hory, German: Erzgebirge)
from the morning of 12 to the morning of 13 August, i.e. with 34 mm still missing
to surmount the Central-European extreme from 1897. In the Czech Lands was in
August 2002 an extreme value “only” 278 mm on the station Knajpa (967 m a.s.l.)
in special net of Czech Hydrometeorological Institute on 13 August 2002. In
Poland is continually valid absolute one day precipitation record 300 mm from the
station Hala Gąsienicowa (1520 m a.s.l.) in High Tatra Mts. on 30 June 1973
(Table
18.2
).
As to the synoptic causes of the extreme precipitation, it was in fact the
cyclone progressing along the Vb trajectory in the sense of van Bebber’s clas-
sification. On 28 July 1897, an extensive low pressure zone developed over
Table 18.1
One-day total precipitation amounts from 29–30 July 1897 in the Czech-Polish
borderland region
Amount [mm] Date
Station
Altitude [m a.s.l.]
Country
345
29.7.1897
Nová Louka/Neuwiese
780
CZ
300
29.7.1897
Jizerka/Wilhelmshöhe
870
CZ
266
29.7.1897
Pecpod Sněžkou/Riesenhain
812
CZ
239
29.7.1897 Śnieżka/Schneekoppe
1603
PL
225
29.7.1897
Schronisko Księcia Henryka/
Prinz Heinrich Baude
1400
PL
220
29.7.1897
Kościół Wang/Kirche Wang
873
PL
Table 18.2
One-day precipitation
records in Central Europe
Amount [mm] Date
Station
Altitude [m a.s.l.]
Country
345
29.7.1897
Nová Louka
780
CZ
323
5.6.1947
Semmering
1012
A
312
12.8.2002
Zinnwald-Georgenfeld
877
D
300
30.6.1973
Hala Gasienicowa
1520
PL
232
12.7.1957
Salka
111
SK
18 Precipitation Extremes and Disastrous Floods in Central Europe
391
Central Europe, which had three cores (1,005 hPa): one above the northern
part of the Adriatic sea, one above Hungary and one above southern Poland –
that “merged” on 29 July 1897 into one centre (1,006 hPa) in the north of the
High Tatra Mts. At the same time, the pressure gradient above the Czech
territory increased with the north-western to northern flowing and an extreme
retrograde displacement occurred of the cyclone centre towards the west to
south-west.
18.3 Floods and Their Impacts
One of characteristic features of the flood at the end of July 1897 was its large area
impact. Flood waves on watercourses were recorded nearly in the whole today’s
territory of the Czech Republic but they reached the highest extreme in the Upper
Labe (Elbe) Basin where the floods were unprecedental. Disasters on streams flow-
ing from the Krkonoše Mts., namely on the Upper Labe (Elbe) River itself and on
its left-bank tributary Úpa River, were compared to the Apocalypse. The extreme
character of floods in this region corroborates also the extremity set up for culmina-
tion discharges delivered on the Labe R. at the Labská Station (beneath Špindlerův
Mlýn) and on the Úpa R. at the Horní Maršov Station. According to Brázdil et al.
(2005)
, the floods in these two localities belonged to events occurring on average
once in a thousand years. Some hydrologists argue that the recurrence interval was
not so extensive. In any case, however, there is a general agreement that the con-
cerned floods were more than the hundred-year ones.
The disastrous flood showed in Bohemia also on the Lužická Nisa/Lusatian
Neisse R., left bank tributary of the Odra R. and on the streams flowing down from
the south-eastern slopes of the Krušné hory (Erzgebirge) Mts. The extreme floods
were recorded also on their German side in Saxony, unprecedented on many water
streams until the year 2002, which can be documented by historic floodmarks
recorded since 1815 on the wall of a mill on the Freiberger Mulde R. in the town
of Döbeln (Pohl 2004). It was as late as in August 2002 when the hitherto highest
water course culmination from the beginning of August 1897 was pushed to the
second place, being surmounted by 126 cm. The extraordinary character of floods
on the left-bank tributaries of the Elbe R. in Saxony in summer 1897 is documented
by numerous other floodmarks in the region. Although the Elbe River itself was in
Germany affected by the high water, its water level increase was insignificant in the
context of other flood cases.
Great floods occurred in 1897 also in the Odra River Basin. The flood on the
Odra R. in Bohumín, i.e. on the then Prussian-Austrian border, was “only” a flood
that occurs on average once in two to five years. However, the flood was gradually
gaining strength further down the Odra R. course in the today’s Poland (the then
Prussia). The reason were left-bank tributaries of the Odra River draining the
mountain ranges of the Sudeten. Extreme floods were recorded for example in
the watershed of the Nysa Kłodzka/Glatzer Neisse R. The largest inundations in the
392
J. Munzar and S. Ondráček
Fig. 18.1
Front page of the occasional print “Flood disaster in the Krkonoše Mts. from 29–30
July 1897” (Jelenia Góra/Hirschberg 1897)
18 Precipitation Extremes and Disastrous Floods in Central Europe
393
Odra River Basin in July 1897 occurred however on water streams flowing down
from the Krkonoše Mts. and from the Jizerské hory Mts., particularly on the Bóbr/
Bober River and on its left-bank affluent Kwisa/Queis R., and/or Nysa Luźycka/
Lusatian Neisse R.
Historic publications issued shortly after the extreme flood disaster describe its
course and tremendous losses in northern Bohemia, Saxony and Silesia. The main
indicator of destruction is typically the number of casualties. The analysis of historic
and later assessments of this flood event speak of 120 life victims on the Czech side
of the Krkonoše Mts. (of these 17 in a small village of Dolní Maršov on the Úpa
River). Life victims documented so far on the Czech side of the Krušné hory
(Erzgebirge) Mts. are 4 and 23 were recorded on the German side. As to Silesia,
historic print published towards the end of 1897 in Jelenia Góra/Hirschberg Die
Hochwasser Katastropheim Riesergebirge . . . (Fig.
18.1
) speak together of a minimum
number of 20 human lives lost, but according to Fischer
(1898)
were 28 casualties.
The disastrous flood with great damages (illustrated here with examples
Figs.
18.2
,
18.3
,
18.4
,
18.5
) became an important impetus for a range of flood-
control measures in all affected countries and regions. Numerous acts of law and
flood-control regulations were issued and a decision was made on hydraulic engi-
neering works that would contribute to the regulation of extreme discharge and to
the mitigation of flood damages in the future.
Fig. 18.2
Hotel Deutscher Kaiser in Špindlerův Mlýn (CZ) on 30 July 1897 (Photo F. Joffe –
archives of P. Scheufler)
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl hannaeva.xlx.pl
Precipitation Extremes and Disastrous Floods
in Central Europe in July 1897
Jan Munzar and Stanislav Ondráček
18.1 Introduction
The high water of July 1897 which took place in nearly two thirds of the territory
of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, Lower and Upper Austria, and a great part of
Germany brought sights of apocalyptic destruction. Consequences of bitter floods
in 1858 and 1882 having not yet faded away from the memory of inhabitants in the
mountain areas which form a natural boundary between Bohemia and Silesia, the
region was affected from 28 to 30 July 1897 by the precipitation of extreme inten-
sity following after several days of rains (Hellmann 1897, Trabert 1897). All water
courses in the Krkonoše Mts. rapidly overflew the banks on both sides of the border
and the process of destruction began.
18.2 Precipitation Extremes
The rain intensity reached its peak on 29 July 1897 after 8 p.m. Historical records
describing the event of this night paint in bright emotionally the ghastly raging dark
night falling down on the highest Czech mountains, evoking the image of the biblical
Flood. Unlike the biblical event the high water of July 1897 entered the lives of
many thousand people quite unexpectedly and without any warning. Especially the
two main rivers – Labe (Elbe) and Úpa became dimensionless streams of water -
sweeping, pulling down and taking away everything that was standing in their way.
While in the summer of 1997 the hitherto records of multiple-day total precipi-
tation were exceeded in numerous localities in the Czech Republic, the 1-day
total precipitation of 345.1 mm from 29 July 1897 gauged at the Nová Louka
J. Munzar (
) and S. Ondráček
Institute of Geonics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Ostrava, Brno branch,
Drobného 28, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
e-mail: munzar@geonika.cz
R. Przybylak et al. (eds.),
The Polish Climate in the European Context:
An Historical Overview
, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3167-9_18,
© Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2010
389
390
J. Munzar and S. Ondráček
station (780 m a.s.l.) in the Jizerské hory Mts. (Polish: Góry Izerskie, German:
Isergebirge) was not surmounted (Kakos 1997). The 24 h precipitation amount is
likely to be at least a Central-European record until today. Although the 1-day
total precipitation amounts of 300 mm and more are exceptional in Europe’s cli-
mate, they were recorded two times in the summer of 1897: apart from the above
mentioned 345.1 mm, a nearby gauging station Jizerka (formerly Wilhelmshöhe)
in the Jizerské hory Mts. measured an amount of 300 mm on the same day
(Table
18.1
). Czerwiński
(1998)
mentioned as regional daily precipitation
extreme during this synoptical situation 376 mm, but it is undoubtedly a mistake.
On the Polish side was the greatest daily amount of precipitation 239 mm on the
station Śnieżka (1603 m a.s.l.).
During the catastrophic floods in Central Europe in August 2002 a new absolute
German national record was measured (312 mm/day) at the Zinnwald-Georgenfeld
station (877 m a.s. l.) in the Ore Mts. (Czech:Krušné hory, German: Erzgebirge)
from the morning of 12 to the morning of 13 August, i.e. with 34 mm still missing
to surmount the Central-European extreme from 1897. In the Czech Lands was in
August 2002 an extreme value “only” 278 mm on the station Knajpa (967 m a.s.l.)
in special net of Czech Hydrometeorological Institute on 13 August 2002. In
Poland is continually valid absolute one day precipitation record 300 mm from the
station Hala Gąsienicowa (1520 m a.s.l.) in High Tatra Mts. on 30 June 1973
(Table
18.2
).
As to the synoptic causes of the extreme precipitation, it was in fact the
cyclone progressing along the Vb trajectory in the sense of van Bebber’s clas-
sification. On 28 July 1897, an extensive low pressure zone developed over
Table 18.1
One-day total precipitation amounts from 29–30 July 1897 in the Czech-Polish
borderland region
Amount [mm] Date
Station
Altitude [m a.s.l.]
Country
345
29.7.1897
Nová Louka/Neuwiese
780
CZ
300
29.7.1897
Jizerka/Wilhelmshöhe
870
CZ
266
29.7.1897
Pecpod Sněžkou/Riesenhain
812
CZ
239
29.7.1897 Śnieżka/Schneekoppe
1603
PL
225
29.7.1897
Schronisko Księcia Henryka/
Prinz Heinrich Baude
1400
PL
220
29.7.1897
Kościół Wang/Kirche Wang
873
PL
Table 18.2
One-day precipitation
records in Central Europe
Amount [mm] Date
Station
Altitude [m a.s.l.]
Country
345
29.7.1897
Nová Louka
780
CZ
323
5.6.1947
Semmering
1012
A
312
12.8.2002
Zinnwald-Georgenfeld
877
D
300
30.6.1973
Hala Gasienicowa
1520
PL
232
12.7.1957
Salka
111
SK
18 Precipitation Extremes and Disastrous Floods in Central Europe
391
Central Europe, which had three cores (1,005 hPa): one above the northern
part of the Adriatic sea, one above Hungary and one above southern Poland –
that “merged” on 29 July 1897 into one centre (1,006 hPa) in the north of the
High Tatra Mts. At the same time, the pressure gradient above the Czech
territory increased with the north-western to northern flowing and an extreme
retrograde displacement occurred of the cyclone centre towards the west to
south-west.
18.3 Floods and Their Impacts
One of characteristic features of the flood at the end of July 1897 was its large area
impact. Flood waves on watercourses were recorded nearly in the whole today’s
territory of the Czech Republic but they reached the highest extreme in the Upper
Labe (Elbe) Basin where the floods were unprecedental. Disasters on streams flow-
ing from the Krkonoše Mts., namely on the Upper Labe (Elbe) River itself and on
its left-bank tributary Úpa River, were compared to the Apocalypse. The extreme
character of floods in this region corroborates also the extremity set up for culmina-
tion discharges delivered on the Labe R. at the Labská Station (beneath Špindlerův
Mlýn) and on the Úpa R. at the Horní Maršov Station. According to Brázdil et al.
(2005)
, the floods in these two localities belonged to events occurring on average
once in a thousand years. Some hydrologists argue that the recurrence interval was
not so extensive. In any case, however, there is a general agreement that the con-
cerned floods were more than the hundred-year ones.
The disastrous flood showed in Bohemia also on the Lužická Nisa/Lusatian
Neisse R., left bank tributary of the Odra R. and on the streams flowing down from
the south-eastern slopes of the Krušné hory (Erzgebirge) Mts. The extreme floods
were recorded also on their German side in Saxony, unprecedented on many water
streams until the year 2002, which can be documented by historic floodmarks
recorded since 1815 on the wall of a mill on the Freiberger Mulde R. in the town
of Döbeln (Pohl 2004). It was as late as in August 2002 when the hitherto highest
water course culmination from the beginning of August 1897 was pushed to the
second place, being surmounted by 126 cm. The extraordinary character of floods
on the left-bank tributaries of the Elbe R. in Saxony in summer 1897 is documented
by numerous other floodmarks in the region. Although the Elbe River itself was in
Germany affected by the high water, its water level increase was insignificant in the
context of other flood cases.
Great floods occurred in 1897 also in the Odra River Basin. The flood on the
Odra R. in Bohumín, i.e. on the then Prussian-Austrian border, was “only” a flood
that occurs on average once in two to five years. However, the flood was gradually
gaining strength further down the Odra R. course in the today’s Poland (the then
Prussia). The reason were left-bank tributaries of the Odra River draining the
mountain ranges of the Sudeten. Extreme floods were recorded for example in
the watershed of the Nysa Kłodzka/Glatzer Neisse R. The largest inundations in the
392
J. Munzar and S. Ondráček
Fig. 18.1
Front page of the occasional print “Flood disaster in the Krkonoše Mts. from 29–30
July 1897” (Jelenia Góra/Hirschberg 1897)
18 Precipitation Extremes and Disastrous Floods in Central Europe
393
Odra River Basin in July 1897 occurred however on water streams flowing down
from the Krkonoše Mts. and from the Jizerské hory Mts., particularly on the Bóbr/
Bober River and on its left-bank affluent Kwisa/Queis R., and/or Nysa Luźycka/
Lusatian Neisse R.
Historic publications issued shortly after the extreme flood disaster describe its
course and tremendous losses in northern Bohemia, Saxony and Silesia. The main
indicator of destruction is typically the number of casualties. The analysis of historic
and later assessments of this flood event speak of 120 life victims on the Czech side
of the Krkonoše Mts. (of these 17 in a small village of Dolní Maršov on the Úpa
River). Life victims documented so far on the Czech side of the Krušné hory
(Erzgebirge) Mts. are 4 and 23 were recorded on the German side. As to Silesia,
historic print published towards the end of 1897 in Jelenia Góra/Hirschberg Die
Hochwasser Katastropheim Riesergebirge . . . (Fig.
18.1
) speak together of a minimum
number of 20 human lives lost, but according to Fischer
(1898)
were 28 casualties.
The disastrous flood with great damages (illustrated here with examples
Figs.
18.2
,
18.3
,
18.4
,
18.5
) became an important impetus for a range of flood-
control measures in all affected countries and regions. Numerous acts of law and
flood-control regulations were issued and a decision was made on hydraulic engi-
neering works that would contribute to the regulation of extreme discharge and to
the mitigation of flood damages in the future.
Fig. 18.2
Hotel Deutscher Kaiser in Špindlerův Mlýn (CZ) on 30 July 1897 (Photo F. Joffe –
archives of P. Scheufler)