Torrential floods and town and country planning in Serbia

Abstract

Abstract. Torrential floods are the most frequent natural catastrophic events in Serbia, causing the loss of human lives and huge material damage, both in urban and rural areas. The analysis of the intra-annual distribution of maximal discharges aided in noticing that torrential floods have a seasonal character. The erosion and torrent control works (ETCWs) in Serbia began at the end of the 19th century. Effective protection from torrential floods encompasses biotechnical works on the slopes in the watershed and technical works on the torrent beds, within a precisely defined administrative and spatial framework in order to achieve maximal safety for people and their property. Cooperation to overcome the conflicts between the sectors of the water resources management, forestry, agriculture, energetics, environmental protection and local economic development groups is indispensable at the following levels: policy, spatial planning, practice, investments and education. The lowest and most effective level is through the Plans for Announcement of Erosive Regions (PAERs) and the Plans for Protection from Torrential Floods (PPTFs), with Hazard Zones (HZs) and Threatened Areas (TAs) mapping on the basis of the hydrologic, hydraulic and spatial analysis of the factors that are important for the formation of torrential floods. Solutions defined through PAERs and PPTFs have to be integrated into Spatial Plans at local and regional levels.

Calculation of Sediment Yield in the S2-1 Watershed of the Shirindareh River Basin, Iran

“…Among several models, Erosion Potential Method -EPM, originally developed for Yugoslavia by Gavrilovic (1972), was in recent times repeatedly applied in the watersheds of Apennine and in the Balkan Peninsula (Blinkov and Kostadinov, 2010;Kostadinov et al 2006Kostadinov et al , 2014Lenaerts, 2014;Milevski et al 2008;Ristic et al 2012;Sekularac, 2000Sekularac, , 2013Spalevic et al 2012aSpalevic et al , 2012bSpalevic et al , 2013aSpalevic et al , 2013bSpalevic et al , 2013cSpalevic et al , 2013dSpalevic et al , 2013e, 2013f, 2013g, 2014aSpalevic et al , 2014bSpalevic et al , 2014cSpalevic et al , 2014dStefanovic, 2004;Tazioli, 2009, Zorn andKomac, 2008), but also in the other regions in the world, for example in arid and semi-arid areas of the south-western USA (Gavrilovic Z., 1988). The method is based on the factors affecting erosion in a catchment; its parameters dependent on the temperature, the mean annual rainfall, the soil use, the geological properties and some other features of the catchment.…”

Minimization of direct costs in the construction of torrent control structures

“…Torrential floods are the most frequently occurring natural hazard causing significant human lives, environmental and economic losses [1]. Reduction or avoidance of flood-related losses through structural works and non-structural measures are a fundamental task of flood management [2].…”

Structural and Hydro Technical Schemes for Flood Defenses

“…Floods are some of the natural phenomenon that deeply marked and marks the development of human society, being the most geographically widespread disasters around the world and also the largest producer of damage and human casualties. At the same time, floods were the causative factor and the catalyst for big changes in the approach to this phenomenon, from accepting flooding as a freak of nature to man trying to resist nature through approaches such as the fight against floods, to the flood defense [1].…”