There will be a full analysis of why the Nysa River was flooded, although the documentation we have shows that nothing should have happened there – announced the president of Wody Polskie, Joanna Kopczyńska, on Friday. She added that the issue of “where the water came from” also requires expert opinion.
During the deliberations of the Parliamentary Committee for Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation, the president of the State Water Management Company Wody Polskie, Joanna Kopczyńska, was asked why the Nysa River was flooded. It announced that an analysis would be carried out because the documentation held by Polish Waters shows that the water should have remained in the riverbed.
“What results from flood risk management plans and flood risk maps, as well as from the water permit issued for the Nysa reservoir: the maximum permissible discharge when the water should remain in the bed is 1,400 cubic meters per second, and the highest discharge that was it was 1,000 cubic meters per second,” Kopczyńska emphasized during the meeting of the Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation Committee.
“Where else did water come from?”
“I cannot answer the question why what happened in Nysa today. It will require an expert opinion, because all the documentation we have shows that nothing should have happened there,” she noted.
– Even despite the breaking of the dam in Stronie Śląskie? – asked the deputy speaker of the Sejm, an MP from the Confederation Krzysztof Bosak. “Yes,” replied the president of Wód Polskie, stating that it needed to be investigated and she did not want to pass any judgments.
– For example, rainwater could have appeared from the city – terrible rainfall. This requires a hydrologist's expertise as to where the water came from and what made the riverbed unable to hold the amount of water it should have, which results from all the models we have for this facility (Nysa retention reservoir – editor's note) – she emphasized president.
She added that the analysis also covers the condition of the flood embankments, which, according to the plans, should be prepared to accommodate such water levels.
Nysa after the flood wave, Tuesday, September 17Sławek Pabian / PAP
“They were also prepared to receive such water and keep it in the riverbed. It is all synchronized with each other; it is not possible to build embankments that do not comply with the management instructions for the facility. These are interconnected documents,” she noted.
Kopczyńska reported that the Topola, Kozielno, Otmuchów and Nysa retention reservoirs had a total of 178 million cubic meters. secured flood reserve. “During the entire period of the phenomenon (water surge – editor's note), approximately 155 million cubic meters of it were used. Therefore, there was still a higher reserve of 23 million cubic meters that was not used and was at the disposal of these reservoirs” – she pointed out, adding that there was no need to increase the tank reserves. Kopczyńska, however, noted that the reserve applies to all reservoirs in a cascade system and “is not perfectly distributed among each reservoir.”
Bosak asked “where is the place for the human factor” and who “in an extraordinary situation” makes decisions to depart from instructions and models in order to save specific cities?
“When it comes to such a decision, it is made in the flood protection center, which is located in the Regional Water Management Board (RZGW), and the director of the center, who may also be the director of the local Regional Water Management Board, is responsible for it. He makes the decisions,” Kopczyńska pointed out .
The city was “cut off from the world”
On September 15, during the flood, after increasing the discharge of water from Lake Nysa to Nysa Kłodzka, the water flooded the city streets and also entered the district hospital in Nysa. Both bridges were impassable and, according to local media, the city was “cut off from the world.” The mayor of Nysa called on residents to self-evacuate. In a special announcement, he explained that due to the bursting of the dam in Stronie Śląskie, the water discharge from Lake Nysa will increase from 600 to one thousand cubic meters of water per second.
The fight to maintain the embankment in Nysa along Wyspiańskiego Street lasted from Monday, September 16 this year. After receiving information about its dissolution, the mayor announced the immediate evacuation of the inhabitants of the city of 44,000. To facilitate the repair of the embankment and improve the evacuation of people from areas at risk of flooding, the decision of Polish Waters reduced the water discharge from the reservoir in Nysa from one thousand to 800 cubic meters per second.
Destroyed hospital in Nysa (18/09/2024)TVN24
Charity campaign “TVN Foundation for the hospital in Nysa”
The TVN Foundation organized a relief campaign for the district hospital in Nysa destroyed by flood. He wants to help the inhabitants of the Nysa district affected by the flood, who will also need hospital medical care. The facility will initially receive half a million zlotys.
How to make a donation:
· SMS to 7356 with the text HELP (cost PLN 3.69 including VAT)
· BLIK no. 509 559 966
· Online deposit
· Bank account number: 25 1140 1010 0000 2581 1800 1001 (with the note “FLOOD”)
Main photo source: Sławek Pabian / PAP