Factors influencing floods in the urbanized and industrialized areas of the Upper Silesia Industrial Region in the 19th and 20th centuries (the Kłodnica catchment case study)

Abstract

The occurrence and pattern of floods in urban industrial areas depend on both the hydro-meteorological and physico-geographical properties of the catchment area and on the degree of anthropogenic transformation of land. The area selected for research is one of the largest urban mining-industrial districts in Europe, known as the Upper Silesian Industrial Region (USIR). Besides the ‘typical’ flood risk, which manifests itself in rivers overflowing their banks, this catchment is also threatened with floods that do not depend on meteorological factors but are caused by the formation of flood lands in areas transformed due to deep mining of hard coal. The pattern of floods in the catchment has also been influenced by changes in the forms of land use resulting from the growth of urbanized areas. Because of the increasing flood risk and the fact that it is impossible to build water storage reservoirs other possibilities of improving water retention capacity in the catchment have been indicated.