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The effects of the July 2005 catastrophic inundations in the Siret River’s Lower Watershed, Romania

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  • Gheorghe Romanescu
  • Ioan Nistor

Abstract

The Siret River originates from the Wooded Carpathians (Ukraine) and has a length of 559 km on the Romanian territory. The upper river course is set on the Ukrainian territory, the middle course flows through the Suceava Tableland, and then the limit between the Moldavian Subcarpathians and the Bârlad Tableland, followed by the lower course crosses the Inferior Siret Plain. The hydrographical network includes 1,013 water tributaries (representing the richest river from this point of view in Romania) and has a length of 15,157 km, which represents 19.2% of the total length of the Romanian river network. This materializes in a density of 0.35 km/km 2 , compared to 0.33 km/km 2 which is the average for Romania. The Siret River has the greatest watershed area, with a total surface of 42,890 km 2 , which represents 18.1% of the Romanian territory. Its discharge is the highest of all internal rivers of Romania, with an average discharge of 210 m 3 /s at the river mouth, and this is caused by the fact that most of the tributaries come from mountainous sectors, namely the Eastern Carpathians. In the summer of 2005, the most powerful floods ever occurred in the Siret River watershed with significant negative effects on the country’s economy. Considering the multiannual average discharge of 210 m 3 /s, the maximum discharge recorded on July 16, 2005, was of 4,650 m 3 /s at Lungoci. The main cause of these events is the deforestation of the small watersheds located in the mountainous sector of the counties of Vrancea, Bacau and Neamt. The total surface affected by floods was of 58,323.936 hectares, of which: 34,142.349 ha (58.54%) arable land, 6,697.486 ha (11.48%) orchards and wine-growing plantations, 1,863.698 ha (3.20%) built areas, 2,866.313 ha (4.91%), forests 4,915.985 ha (8.43%), waters 2,081.047 ha (3.57%), and unproductive land 5,757.058 ha (9.87%). Besides the material losses (over 10,000 houses completely destroyed), 24 human deaths were recorded together with the loss of thousands of domestic animals, whose overall value exceeded two million Euros. The estimation of the extent of the flooding and its impact in the Siret River watershed has been performed using LANDSAT TM 2003 satellite images and the FAO-LCCS classification methodology, in the ASR-CRUTA remote sensing laboratory, with the images offered after activating the International CHARTER (Call ID-98). Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Suggested Citation

  • Gheorghe Romanescu & Ioan Nistor, 2011. "The effects of the July 2005 catastrophic inundations in the Siret River’s Lower Watershed, Romania," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 57(2), pages 345-368, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:57:y:2011:i:2:p:345-368
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-010-9617-3
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pavel Raška, 2015. "Flood risk perception in Central-Eastern European members states of the EU: a review," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 79(3), pages 2163-2179, December.
    2. O. Ionuş & M. Licurici & M. Pătroescu & S. Boengiu, 2015. "Assessment of flood-prone stripes within the Danube drainage area in the South-West Oltenia Development Region, Romania," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(1), pages 69-88, February.
    3. Han-Chung Yang & Chuan-Yi Wang & Jia-Xue Yang, 2014. "Applying image recording and identification for measuring water stages to prevent flood hazards," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 74(2), pages 737-754, November.

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