2013. 06. 05..

The second longest river in Europe after the Volga, the Danube’s average water discharge is 2300 cubic metres per second. This waterflow quadrupled during the flood in late May and early June this year: each second approximately 10000 m3 of water rushed down in the Danube’s bed, covering floodplains and – unfortunately – some of the surrounding residential areas. The extent of damages inflicted by the river reached several billion forints and some 1600 people were forced to leave their homes.

Not considering icy floods, the level of the Danube surpassed 800 centimetres only two occasions during the 20th century. Since 2002, this has been the fourth time the river reached the 800 cm mark (peaking at a record-high 891 cm in Budapest on 10 June this year).

A flood warning was issued for more than 900 km of dykes, and emergency intervention measures were rendered necessary on over two thirds of those sections. Colas Alterra’s machines were thrown into action to aid flood defence works on 5 June near Budapest’s Roman Beach. Along with 30-40 people, the 6-10 pieces of equipment clocked over 700 working hours on total, using up 8200 cubic metres of various materials for the reinforcement of barriers. Machines and transport vehicles provided by Colas Hungária were put to use on 7 June in Komárom, Dunaalmás, Esztergom and Pilismarót, subsequently being redeployed to the area of Szentendre and Győrújfalu. The bulk of the works were performed at night, under the light of torches.

Compared to the 2002 situation with similar water levels, this year’s flood caused significantly lower devastation in the affected countries. According to estimates, the damages in Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic amounted to 3 billion euros – approximately half of the 2002 sum. The less severe destruction is primarily attributable to the aforementioned countries having spent 3.3 billion euros on flood control schemes in recent years.