Flash floods in Moravia and Silesia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Abstract

A range of documentary evidence and systematic meteorological/hydrological observations were employed to create a database of flash floods for Moravia and Silesia (the eastern part of Czechia) in the 19th and 20th centuries. :e data extracted were used for an analysis of the spatiotemporal variability of flash floods, based on the frequency of days with flash floods and the number of municipalities affected. :e dynamic climatology of flash floods was interpreted using the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute classification of synoptic types. Descriptions of flash-flood-related damage enabled their further division into six different types. Examples of three outstanding flash floods are described in more detail. All interpreted results are discussed with respect to spatiotemporal data uncertainty and their national and broader central European context. Flash floods constitute significant extreme natural events in Moravia and Silesia; knowledge of them, and more detailed investigation, are important to risk reduction. key words flash flood – documentary data – meteorological observations – spatiotemporal analysis – dynamic climatology – types of flash floods – victims – damage – Moravia and Silesia halásová, o., brázdil, r. (2020): Flash floods in Moravia and Silesia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Geografie, 125, 2, 117–137. https://doi.org/10.37040/geografie2020125020117 Received June 2019, accepted December 2019. © Česká geografická společnost, z. s., 2020 118 geografie 125/2 (2020) / o. halásová, r. brázdil