Despite the violent storm throughout Austria, a major disaster around the Vienna River was averted. Nevertheless, the heavy rainfall caused a thousand-year flood.
The current flooding of the Danube also corresponds to a 50- to 70-year flood with about 10,000 cubic meters per second. This is what data analyses by the Vienna Waters Department (MA 45) have revealed, which were carried out after the huge water masses had receded.
Six retention basins in the Auhof
According to MA 45, major damage in the urban area was prevented by the six retention basins in the Auhof between the 13th and 14th arrondissements with a storage capacity of 1,160,000 cubic metres.
Excess water “temporarily stored”
The flood basins, also called “companies”, are located on a 37-hectare area between the Lainzer Tiergarten and the western railway line, directly at the confluence of the Mauerbach and the Vienna River. In the event of flooding, excess water is temporarily stored in the basins. The last time the Vienna River was at the same level as last Sunday was in 1951.
Around the turn of the century, Vienna was regulated to improve the flood protection of the city of Vienna and aimed at a 1000-year flood. Normally, the river carries about 200 to 500 liters of water per second.
The water, which originates in the western Vienna Woods near Rekawinkel, flows through nine districts of Vienna over a distance of about 15 kilometres and flows into the Danube Canal at the Urania. The flood protection in the Danube, with the Danube Island and the New Danube as auxiliary channels, also functioned perfectly during the current flood.
“About 110 million euros invested”
“Over the past twenty years, the flood protection of the Danube has been intensively expanded and the dams have been enlarged accordingly after the record flood of 2002. In 2021, the flood protection of the Danube east of Vienna was finally completed and around 110 million euros were invested in it,” said city councilor Ulli Sima (SPÖ).
The entire dam system in and around Vienna is now designed for a flow capacity of up to 14,000 cubic metres of water per second, which roughly corresponds to the largest flood ever recorded in Central Europe in 1501. Normally, around 2,000 cubic metres of water per second flows through Vienna at Mittelwasser.
Source: Krone
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