HIGH WATERS IN SLOVENIA IN 2010

Abstract

Just nine months after the large floods of December 2009, Slovenia was hit again by flooding in September 2010. The mentioned flood is one of the three largest flood events in the last one hundred years. The large flood caused considerable material damage and also claimed human lives. In 2010, high waters were predominant in September and December. The September flood was exceptional by its scope, record amount of precipitation in some places and by the river discharge. The floods in November and December were ordinary. In September the rivers also flooded in those areas where such a phenomenon is seldom seen; in some areas the water level was the highest ever recorded. In 2010, the rivers Ljubljanica, Gradaščica in its upper current, Vipava, Krka, Sva in its lower current, Medija, Dragonja, Rižana and some other smaller streams surpassed or came close to the highest measured values of the river discharge in the monitored period, which proves the magnitude of the floods in this year. A day before the beginning of the September floods the Slovenian Environment Agency declared a red alert, the highest degree of risk due to precipitation and floods.