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1997 Central European flood
	Kozanów residential district in Wrocław, Poland during the flooding
Meteorological history
Duration	July 1997
Overall effects
Fatalities	114 (56 in Poland, 50 in the Czech Republic)
Damage	$4.5 billion
Areas affected	Czech Republic, Poland, Germany

The 1997 Central European flood or the 1997 Oder Flood of the Oder and Morava river basins in July 1997 affected Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, taking the lives of 114 people and causing material damages estimated at $4.5 billion (3.8 billion euros in the Czech Republic and Poland and 330 million euros in Germany). The flooding began in the Czech Republic, then spread to Poland and Germany. In Poland, where it was one of the most disastrous floods in the country's history,^[1]^[2] it was named the Millennium Flood (Powódź tysiąclecia).^[2] The term was also used in Germany (Jahrtausendflut).^[3] The event has also been referred to as the Great Flood of 1997.^[2]^[4]

Causes

Animation of rainfall over Central Europe in July 1997

Southwestern Poland and the northeastern Czech Republic experienced two periods of extensive rainfall, first occurring 3–10 July and second 17–22 July.^[2]^[5] The precipitation was caused by a Genoa low pressure system, which moved from northern Italy to Moravia and Poland. The unusual development occurred when a field of higher air pressure between the Azores Islands and Scandinavia was blocked. The center of low pressure remained over southern Poland for a long period of time.^[2]

The precipitation was very high, measuring 300–600 millimetres (12–24 in), and corresponded to several months' average rainfall over a few days.^[1] Water levels rose 2–3 m above previously recorded averages^[1] and were so high that they caused the water to flow over existing measurement poles. It was one of the heaviest rainfalls in recorded world's history.^[4] It was dubbed the Millennium Flood because a likelihood of such a flood in a particular year was estimated at 0.1%.^[6]^[7]

Floods

Flooding began on 5 July in the Czech Republic and spread to Poland on 6 July. Those early floods were very rapid flash floods (water levels rose by up to four meters in half a day).^[2] In Poland, the first settlements flooded were located around Prudnik and Głuchołazy,^[8] and were visited by Polish Prime Minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz on 7 July.^[4] Flooding spread rapidly from Chałupki to Racibórz. In Kłodzko several buildings dating back a few hundred years (kamienica) collapsed; on 8 July the flood reached Krapkowice. In the second stage of the flood, the flood wave flowed down through the Oder river, submerging successive towns in the area.^[2] Left-bank Opole was flooded on 10 July, Wrocław and Rybnik on 12 July, and Głogów soon after. The rising waters slowed by the time they reached the Polish-German border (the Oder-Neisse line), allowing more time for preparations; the damages were thus much lower.^[2]

On 18 July, Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski declared a day of national mourning.^[9]

Water levels

Water levels recorded on the Oder river in the flood period:^[10]

A memorial near University Bridge in Wrocław honors people who worked to save the city during the 1997 flood. It depicts a symbolic woman at the University Library, carrying all books from lower to upper floors.

Location	Oder-km	Maximum water level [cm]	Date
Racibórz Miedonia	55.5	1045	9 July 1997
Ujście Nysy	180.5	768	10 July 1997
Rędzin	261.1	1030	13 July 1997
Brzeg Dolny	284.7	970	13 July 1997 – 14 July 1997
Malczyce	304.8	792	14 July 1997 – 15 July 1997
Ścinawa	331.9	732	15 July 1997
Głogów	392.9	712	16 July 1997
Nowa Sól	429.8	681	16 July 1997
Cigacice	471.3	682	19 July 1997
Połęcko	530.3	595	24 July 1997
Ratzdorf	542.5	691	24 July 1997
Eisenhüttenstadt	554.1	717	24 July 1997
Frankfurt/Oder	584.0	657-656	27 July 1997
Słubice	584.1	637	27 July 1997
Kietz	614.8	653	27 July 1997 – 28 July 1997
Kienitz	633.0	628	24 July 1997
Gozdowice	645.3	659	31 July 1997 – 1 July 1997
Hohensaaten-Finow	664.9	729	31 July 1997
Hohensaaten Ostschleuse OP (Oderseite)	667.2	805	31 July 1997
Bielinek	673.5	712	31 July 1997 – 1 August 1997
Stützkow	680.5	1009	29 July 1997
Schwedt Oderbrücke	690.6	886	2 August 1997
Schwedt Schleuse OP (Oderseite)	697.0	840	1 August 1997 – 2 August 1997
Widuchowa	701.8	760	2 August 1997 – 3 August 1997
Gartz (Oder)	8.0	698	1 August 1997 – 2 August 1997
Mescherin	14.1	672	3 August 1997
Gryfino	718.5	649	3 August 1997
Ückermünde	Oderhaff	536	6 August 1997

Fatalities and damages

The flood caused the deaths of 114 people (56 in Poland,^[11]^[12] 50 in the Czech Republic^[13]) and material damages estimated at $4.5 billion^[14] (3.8 billion euros in the Czech Republic and Poland and 330 million euros in Germany).

In Poland, it is estimated that 7,000 people lost all of their possessions. 9,000 private businesses were affected and 680,000 houses were damaged or destroyed. The flood also damaged 843 schools (100 destroyed), 4,000 bridges (45 destroyed), 14,400 km of roads and 2,000 km of railways. In total, 665,835 hectares were affected in Poland (an estimated 2% of total Polish territory).^[1]^[15] The losses were estimated at 7.4-11.3 billion Polish zlotys (or US$2.3–3.5 billion at the 1997 levels).^[1] The historic town of Kłodzko sustained damages equivalent to 50 years of its annual budget.^[2]

In the Czech Republic, 2,151 flats and 48 bridges were destroyed.^[16] 538 villages and towns were affected.^[4] The losses were estimated at 63 billion Czech crowns.^[4] The town of Troubky was most severely affected.

In Germany there were no fatalities.^[17]

Responses

Government responses in the Czech Republic and Poland were criticized.^[4] The flood revealed various inadequacies in decision making and infrastructure, although the unprecedented magnitude of the disaster was seen by some as a mitigating factor.^[1]^[2]

Numerous charities provided aid to those affected by the floods.^[18]

In popular culture

In the wake of the floods in 1997, Polish rock band Hey released the song Moja i twoja nadzieja ("My and Your Hope"). All proceeds from the sale of the single went towards victims of the floods.^[19] Hey also brought together a group of the most prominent Polish singers at the time to record a cover of the song (known as the "'97 version") for charity-. Also in 1997, Hey released the album Cegiełka na rzecz ofiar powodzi [pl] ("A Brick for Flood Victims"), containing five versions of the song - Hey's original single, the '97 version, an instrumental cover, an acoustic cover, and a jazz interpretation (by Anna Maria Jopek).

In October 2022, Netflix released High Water, a Polish-language six-episode limited series inspired by the 1997 flood. Set in Wrocław, Poland, it depicts the lead-up to the floods and reactions by the city and regional authorities, as well as inhabitants of surrounding villages (represented by the fictional village of Kęty). Although directors Jan Holoubek and Bartłomiej Ignaciuk emphasised that the series was not a documentary, they have been praised for the authenticity of the series.^[20]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Roman Konieczny. Paweł Madej. Małgorzata Siudak. Local Flood Hazard Reduction Plans in Poland – Problems and Perspectives. In Eve Gruntfest; John Handmer (2001). Coping with flash floods. Springer. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-7923-6826-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz. Summer 1997 Flood in Poland in Perspective. In Oleg Fedorovich Vasilʹev; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; E. J. Plate; M. V. Bolgov (2007). Extreme Hydrological Events: New Concepts for Security. Springer. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-4020-5740-3.
^ Martin Doring. The Politics of Nature: Constructing the German Reunification during the Great Odra Flood 1997 in Riyan J. G. van den Born; W. T. de Groot; Rob H. J. Lenders (2006). Visions of nature: a scientific exploration of people's implicit philosophies regarding nature in Germany, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 155. ISBN 978-3-8258-9008-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f K. Szamalek. The Great Flood of 1997 in Poland: The Truth and Myth. In Geoffrey E. Petts; C. Amoros (1996). Fluvial hydrosystems. Springer. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-412-37100-4.
^ (in German) Studien und Tagungsberichte, Schriftenreihe des Landesumweltamtes Brandenburg. Band 16 – Das Sommerhochwasser an der Oder 1997 – Fachbeiträge anläßlich der Brandenburger Ökologietage II. Potsdam. Marz 1997
^ (in Polish) Przemysław Berg, Czy grozi nam powódź: Widmo Wielkiej Wody, Polityka, 21 lutego 2010
^ Goniewicz, Krzysztof; Burkle, Frederick M. (2019). "Challenges in Implementing Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Poland". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 16 (14): 2574. doi:10.3390/ijerph16142574. PMC 6678952. PMID 31323878.
^ Dwa i pół tysiąca poszkodowanych, Wielka powódź '97, "Tygodnik Prudnicki", Andrzej Dereń, 27 (861), 4 July 2007, p. 12.
^ (in Polish) Zarządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 15 lipca 1997 r. w sprawie opuszczenia flagi państwowej Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. M.P. 1997 nr 42 poz. 423
^ Studien und Tagungsberichte, Schriftenreihe des Landesumweltamtes Brandenburg. Band 16 – Das Sommerhochwasser an der Oder 1997 – Fachbeiträge anläßlich der Brandenburger Ökologietage II. Potsdam. Marz 1997
^ (in Polish) ZBIGNIEW W. KUNDZEWICZ, MACIEJ ZALEWSKI, ANDRZEJ KĘDZIORA, EDWARD PIERZGALSKI, Zagrożenia związane z wodą Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, NAUKA 4/2010 • 87–96
^ Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz. Summer 1997 Flood in Poland in Perspective. In Oleg Fedorovich Vasilʹev; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; E. J. Plate; M. V. Bolgov (2007). Extreme Hydrological Events: New Concepts for Security. Springer. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-4020-5740-3.
^ Pavel Punchchar, Marek Mata, and Daniel Pokorny. Improvement of Flood Protection in Czech Republic in Geoffrey E. Petts; C. Amoros (1996). Fluvial hydrosystems. Springer. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-412-37100-4.
^ Jochen Schanze; Evzen Zeman; Jiri Marsalek (2006). Flood risk management: hazards, vulnerability and mitigation measures. Springer. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-4020-4597-4.
^ (in Polish) Jerzy Grela, Henryk Słota, Jan Zieliński (editors). 1999. Dorzecze Wisły. Monografia Powodzi lipiec 1997. Instytut Meteorologii i Gospodarki Wodnej. ISBN 83-85176-68-3
^ Axel Bronstert (August 1999). Proceedings of the European Expert Meeting on the Oder Flood 1997: 18 May 1998, Potsdam, Germany : Ribamod concerted action. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. ISBN 978-92-828-6073-1.
^ Wilhelm Kirch; Bettina Menne; Roberto Bertollini (2005). Extreme weather events and public health responses. Birkhäuser. p. 202. ISBN 978-3-540-24417-2.
^ Jeffrey K. Johnson (2009). American advertising in Poland: a study of cultural interactions since 1990. McFarland. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-7864-3797-9.
^ "HEY - CEGIEŁKA NA RZECZ OFIAR POWODZI (1997)". HEY (in Polish). Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Wkrótce po wielkiej powodzi, która nawiedziła Polską w 1997 roku opublikowano charytatywny singiel pod oficjalnym tytułem "Cegiełka na rzecz ofiar powodzi". Na krążku znalazło się aż pięć wersji "Mojej i twojej nadziei": dwie znane z "Fire", instrumentalna, jazzująca w interpretacji Anny Marii Jopek i wreszcie z najważniejszą p.t. "Moja i twoja nadzieja '97", gdzie z oprócz Kasi Nosowskiej zaśpiewali: Edyta Bartosiewicz, Natalia Kukulska, Maryla Rodowicz, Joanna Prykowska, Patrycja Kosiarkiewicz, Renata Dąbkowska, Anna Świątczak, Czesław Niemen, Grzegorz Markowski.
^ Dowell, Stuart (12 October 2022). "Netflix drama High Water about Silesia's 1997 'flood of the millennium' praised for its authenticity". The First News. Retrieved 14 October 2022. The makers of the series are keen to point out that it is not a documentary. However, many are lauding the authenticity of the series, for example, the scenes of local people coming out of their homes to help, and especially when a bus is commandeered to take patients from a hospital to safety.