CHARACTERISTICS OF FLOODS IN VALEA CERBULUI CATCHMENT

Ruth Perju

Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest

Abstract

Floods are the most violent phenomena both through their manifestation and the damages upon the society. Valea Cerbului is a mountainous basin, located on the eastern slope of Bucegi Mountains. Their morphological, morphometric and climatic features are favoring the production of flash floods. Studying the causes of production and the characteristics of floods in this basin is important in order to mitigate the risk induced by these phenomena, especially in the inferior sector which overlaps the Buşteni town (renowned mountainous tourist resort) and where there are located elements of road and international and national railway infrastructure. After emphasizing the main control factors of floods in the study area, we determined and analyzed the monthly and seasonal frequency of the floods and the characteristic elements of some representative floods (growth, decreasing and total duration of the flood wave, volume and water layer drained). The study is based on statistical processing of the hydrological data series (monthly and annual maximum discharges from 1961 to 2010, daily and hourly discharges during the analyzed floods) from Buşteni hydrometric station on Valea Cerbului river. In order to determine the weather conditions that led to the floods, there have been used climatic data during their manifestation (daily average temperature and daily precipitation) from weather stations in the vicinity and within the basin (Vf. Omu - 2505 m, Sinaia - 1510 m and Predeal - 1090 m) (data from ECA&D database and the National Meteorological Administration). The analysis of floods shows that specific to Valea Cerbului Catchment are the flash floods, with rapid rise in water, esspecially when produced by heavy rainfalls. The long term precipitation or the rainfalls associated with the snow melting, are causing floods with longer durations. The annual maximum discharges have a maximum frequency from June to August: 19,2% of cases in June, 19,2% of cases in July, 23,1% in August (for the period 1961-2010). This fact shows the mainly pluvial origin of the annual floods: they are produced as a consequence of the heavy rainfalls, which are generating flash floods, with important destructive impact.

Keywords: floods, flood control factors, probabilities, Valea Cerbului Catchment

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