Institute: Flood protection measures were effective; it would be beneficial to simplify the permitting process

Prague - Flood defense measures have been highly effective during the current floods; therefore, it is necessary to simplify their approval process and influence public opinion to gain more support, stated the T. G. Masaryk Water Management Research Institute. According to Tomáš Hrdinka from the research institute, reservoirs cannot stop floods, but they can delay their onset and reduce peak flows. The planned dam in Nové Heřminovy in the Bruntál region would also help in this regard, said water management expert Hrdinka to ČTK.

Hrdinka pointed out that most measures cannot stop floods; their main purpose is to delay and diminish flooding so that additional measures can be prepared in time. "And this has indeed been achieved for most reservoirs based on timely forecasts from hydrometeorologists. The overall preparedness of the system, based on acquired experiences, is certainly evident in comparison to the floods of 1997 and 2002," noted Hrdinka. He added that the dry landscape also contributed. "The soil absorbed the first 70 to 100 millimeters of precipitation, thereby slowing the runoff into the riverbeds," he said.

Hrdinka noted that the same effect would occur with the Nové Heřminovy waterworks in Bruntál if it were completed. The construction of the reservoir has been discussed for decades, but long-term opposition comes from the Hnutí Duha Jeseníky (Duh Movement) and the municipality of Nové Heřminovy, which would partly be flooded as a result of the dam's construction.

For this reason, Hrdinka recommends simplifying spatial and construction regulations in the implementation of flood defense projects in the future, and that politicians should more actively influence public opinion on the introduction of measures. "So that the public is more inclined towards them and does not go against them in the processes," he said. He also recommends not to skimp on construction. "The financial difference between a dam designed for a fifty-year flood and one for a hundred-year flood is not as crucial as the later effectiveness in mitigating an extreme flood," said Hrdinka.

According to Hrdinka, the most effective measures currently include timely forecasts, the timely creation of retention spaces in reservoirs, the construction of dikes and flood retention areas, as well as coordinated cooperation between rescue system units, the army, and municipal politicians. "Some measures, such as Nové Heřminovy, the protection of the Svratka in Brno, and several flood retention areas, have not yet been realized due to the complicated approval process, such as citizen and NGO appeals in the case of new reservoirs, but each such event significantly advances the protective system," added Hrdinka.

If the Nové Heřminovy waterworks were completed now, the Odra River basin and the towns of Krnov and Opava would have been affected by only a five-year flood instead of a hundred-year flood, according to Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný (KDU-ČSL).

After the weekend with heavy precipitation, most regions are facing flooding. Several tens of thousands of households remain without electricity, several dozen railway lines are impassable, and roads, including the border crossing Lanžhot-Brodské, are closed. Extensive flooding has claimed its first victim, with one person drowning in the Krasovka River in Bruntál, and another eight people are missing.