Measures to protect Prykarpattia from catastrophic floods by analyzing their causes and сonsequences in 2008 and 2020

Abstract

On January 1, 2021, the Center for Forecasting and Prevention of Technogenic and Hydroecological Ha ards of Prykarpattia was established within the IF TUOG by the Rector’s order. In recent years, two floods in Prykarpattia were catastrophic: one on July 23-28, 2008, and the second one on June 20-24, 2020. The article considers the main causes and consequences of catastrophic floods for Prykarpattia. The consequences of the catastrophic flood of 2008 were the deaths of 30 people, flooding of 41 thousand houses, 34 thousand hectares of agricultural lands and the destruction of 671 km of roads. The disaster of 2020 in Prykarpattia was more sudden than the floods of 2008. During June 20-23, heavy rainfall was observed in the region. During these two days alone, 113% of the monthly precipitation norm fell. This caused a sharp water rise and strong currents, especially in the mountainous areas of Prykarpattia. The root cause of the emergency can be considered heavy rain cyclones moving to Ukraine from South-Western Europe, which caused heavy, sometimes very heavy rainfall and the formation of catastrophic rain floods in the Dniester and the Prut river basins. Some of main causes of emergencies were the uncontrolled deforestation in Ivano-Frankivsk region without the appropriate technological processes, unauthorized extraction of sand and gravel in riverbeds and coastal protection zones. Another important reason was that in recent years no state program for the construction of dams and bank stabilization, and the reconstruction of stormwater sewerage, which have been in operation for a long time without any upgrades, has been properly funded. Based on the performed analysis, the measures to reduce the negative effects of catastrophic floods are proposed

Keywords

• flood
• prykarpattia
• ecological safety
• economic losses
• catastrophe prevention