In Styria

Five questions on the current flood situation

The flood raged in the Andritz district of Graz

(Bild: Nils Bischof)

The floods have left a trail of devastation through parts of Styria. The north-west of Graz was particularly affected. The city held a specially convened press conference to provide information on what has already been done to protect the population in recent years and what is planned for the future.

What is the current situation in Styria?
The water levels are receding everywhere and the clean-up work is in full swing. But the danger has not yet been averted: The intensive rainfall of the last week has led to a considerable softening of the forest floor, particularly in the disaster areas of the Graz-Umgebung and Hartberg-Fürstenfeld districts. This endangers the stability of trees, especially as wind gusts of up to 80 km/h are possible at the weekend: "I therefore strongly advise against spending time in forests but also in parks, especially for this weekend," explains Provincial Councillor Simone Schmiedbauer.  

What are the reasons for the fact that so many residential areas in the Andritz district of Graz, for example, are in flood zones?
"Especially before the turn of the millennium, building plots were often dedicated where they would no longer be today. Back then, flood protection did not have the importance it has today," says Bernhard Inninger from the Graz Urban Planning Office. This means that today we often have to rely on hundreds of property owners giving up part of their land so that a retention basin or a stream can be built. "And many, who are perhaps not directly threatened themselves, refuse to do so because they are only looking out for their own benefit - and not for the benefit of the community."

Deputy Mayor Judith Schwentner with Bernhard Egger-Schinnerl (Department for Green Spaces and Waters), Bernhard Inninger (Urban Planning Office) and Robert Wiener (Department for Green Spaces and Waters, from left)

(Bild: Foto Fischer)

Would a second retention basin, which should have already been built, have helped in Andritz?
"In the current case: no," says Bernhard Egger-Schinnerl from the Department of Green Spaces and Waters, referring to measurement data from the current flood. "Even before the first retention basin was full, many areas in Andritz were under water because it rained so heavily." Incidentally, the second retention basin has not yet been built because there are no models that could have increased the current protection (against a 50-year flood) to the legally required level (100-year flood). "We're working on it, but it's difficult," he says.

Why did the warning of the population of Graz - for example by text message - work so poorly during the current floods?
The city of Graz discontinued the text message warning system that was once implemented with the disaster control department years ago "because it was not accurate enough", says Robert Wiener. However, similar warnings are currently available via Geosphere and some insurance companies. The city of Graz is also relying on a massively expanded measuring system along affected streams. The aim is to "process the data even better for the population" in future

Do we simply have to live with the fact that we will no longer be able to protect ourselves from certain disasters in the future?
"As a municipality, we are working with the state and federal government to do everything we can," says Deputy Mayor Judith Schwentner. In Graz alone, 18 retention basins have been built in the past 18 years and 18 kilometers of streams have been expanded. There are also countless other projects in the pipeline for the coming years. "But we also have to be realistic," says Schwentner: "Even the best structural protection measures have their limits."