The 2002 Central European Floods

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at floods in general, their possible causes and general impact. The paper then takes a look at the 2002 flood that drowned Dresden and Prague, in particular, and explains that this flood greatly illustrates both the severity and impact of river floods and that of the changing climate. The paper also briefly touches on the media coverage at the time.

From the Paper:

"Most simply put, the cause of river flood disasters is rainfall. River floods normally result directly or indirectly from climatological events, such as excessive or prolonged rainfall, snowmelt, or a combination of the two. Therefore, most floods occur in spring and early summer, during the periods of snow- and icemelt. Other factors may be ice jams, landslides or the failure of dams and control works. Floods in river valleys occur as a result of a rapidly increased stream flow that exceeds the streams capacity and overspills. Meanwhile, the water-table may rise above the ground surface, when upstream river basins were already saturated from earlier rains. This is often the precursor for overspilling as the ground can no longer absorb the excess water. In urban areas, flooding often results from overspilling but may also be a result of surcharged stormwater drains."

Sample of Sources Used:

• BBC News World Edition. "Europe's flood lessons." Monday, 19 August, 2002. 1 Dec. 2007. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2203152.stm>
• Cornford, S. G. "Human and economic impacts of weather events in 2001". Bull. World Meteorological Organization, 51, 2002.
• CNN "Prague flood damage toll rising." August 27, 2002, CNN.com. 1 Dec. 2007. <http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/08/26/prague.tol.otsc/index.html>
• Deustche Welle. "Deadly Storms lash Europe." August 14th, 2002, DW-World.de. 1 Dec. 2007. <http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,609103,00.html>
• DG Health and Consumer Protection. "Flooding in Europe: Health Risks." European Comission.1 Dec. 2007. <http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_information/dissemination/unexpected/unexpected_7_en.htm>

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