The Newsroom 27

26 July 2024

The threat of a destructive flood still hangs over the residents of Kłodzko

At the foot of the Sudeten mountain range, a small Polish town lives as best it can with the risk of flooding heightened by climate change.

Marius Bihel

Français/Polski

The threat of a destructive flood still hangs over the residents of Kłodzko
The view from the Kłodzko fortress over the Sudeten Mountains and the town centre. With the town hall in the centre. On the left, the towers of the Franciscan monastery church, which was flooded several times, including during the flood of 1997. On the right, the concrete buildings of the Nysa residential district. | Marius Bihel

In the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Kłodzko, three lines indicate the water level reached during the greatest floods to submerge this town in the south-west of Poland. The highest mark: 344 cm on the night of July 7th, 1997. That year, the Nysa Kłodzka, which flows through the region from south to north, overflowed its banks. The cause? Torrential rains on the Sudeten mountains surrounding the town of Kłodzko. The quickening of the current of the river, which flows into the Oder, also in flood, submerged the city of Wrocław: it was the “flood of the millennium”.

On the evening of July 7, 1997, the dike protecting the Nysa neighborhood, south of Piasek Island in Kłodzko, broke under the force of the waters of the Nysa Kłodzka. In around fifteen minutes, this residential area filled up “like a bathtub”, recounts Bożena Krawczyk-Szymańska. The water ravaged her ground-floor apartment in a concrete building of theneighborhood built in the 1960s. Back when Kłodzko was called Glatz, the Germans used this land as a flood zone.

The flood took a heavy toll, submerging 11% of the town and destroying almost 600 homes. “In the courtyard of my apartment building, there were two corpses, one in the garbage, the other in a tree,” recalls Mrs. Anna, with emotion.

At least a dozen people died in the town of Kłodzko, and around twenty in the entire powiat (unit of local government equivalent to a county). “The water took everything in its path, it was like a tsunami,” described Ryszard Niebieszczański, wójt (head of the gmina) of the Kłodzko gmina (basic unit of the administrative division, equivalent to a municipality) at the time of the 1997 flood.

“Here, when there’s a flood (…) the water carries away stones, whole trees with impressive force (…) but also buildings, roofs, even vehicles,” explains Marek Źródłowski, director of the local office of the state-owned Wody Polskie company, responsible for flood protection. In 1997, the flood washed away bridges, homes, trucks and all manner of debris causing considerable damage. “There was little light, we could just hear a lot of noise,” recalls Aleksandra Błąkała, a resident of Długopole-Zdrój.

View of the Nysa district from a building in Malszewskiego street. During the flood of 1997, the water reached the first floor of these buildings. A body was found in a tree. | Marius Bihel

Kłodzko “a hydrological node”

“Life here has always been organized around rivers, to facilitate access to water. In the villages, most of the buildings are built along rivers,” says Piotr Marchewka, an elected member of the Kłodzko powiat council. In recent years, local authorities have banned construction in flood-prone areas, “but people have forgotten, in three years’ time it will be 30 years since the millennium flood (…) many people have rebuilt their houses in the same place.” 

“Over the last 4 years, flood alerts have been triggered 4 times a year,” says Jan Kalfas, head of the crisis management department in Kłodzko powiat.

Flooding in this region is typical of mountainous terrain. The difference in altitude means that water quickly submerges the land, but just as quickly recedes. The Nysa Kłodzka runs 62.82 km through the region. It is fed by a network of tributaries several hundred kilometers long, flowing down from the Sudeten mountains.

“All the streams flow into the center, so into the Nysa Kłodzka,” explains Radosław Stodolak, hydrologist at the Uniwersytet Przerodnicze in Wrocław. Kłodzko is the convergence point of this drainage basin. The river flows through the city for around 10 km. It is fed here by 7 of its tributaries, including the two main ones: the Bystrzyca Dusznicka on its left bank and the Biała Lądecka on its right bank. Kłodzko is a “hydrological node where flood waves accumulate”, explains Marek Źródłowski.

Yet another feature which increases the risk of flooding in Kłodzko powiat are the torrential rains that regularly hit the Sudeten Mountains. Rainfall that is concentrated more specifically in the Śnieżnik massif in the east of the region, where the Nysa Kłodzka rises. “The risk of flooding used to be concentrated in the summer months (…) today we see a lot of flooding in spring or even winter,” explains Radosław Stodolak. In Poland, February is the driest month of the year yet in 2024 “100% more rain fell than normal.”

In Gorzanów, along the Nysa Kłodzka, a cross commemorates the flood of 7 July 1997. The water level is symbolised by a blue line. | Marius Bihel

Holding back the wave

The European Union and the World Bank are supporting the flood protection project in the Kłodzko valley. The main element of this investment: four retention basins to regulate the flow of the Nysa Kłodzka. Their cumulative retention capacity amounts to 16.7 million m3. In total, just over 147 million euros were invested, 73 millions of which came from the EU Cohesion Fund. The aim is to protect Kłodzko. Improved flood protection is expected to boost the local economy.

In this region, which attracts 300,000 visitors every year, many buildings are still marked by the 1997 flood. The façade of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary is still stained by moisture. In Gorzanów, Roman Okrutny’s house stands along the Nysa Kłodzka. In 1997 its ground floor was flooded. “The walls are still damp (…) impossible to dry,” recounts the pensioner. 

Work began in 2018 in Kłodzko powiat. In Roztoki on the Goworówka and in Boboszów on the Nysa Kłodzka the retention basins were commissioned in 2021 and 2023. In Krosnowice on the Duna and Szalejów Górny on the Bystrzyca Dusznicka, the final works are underway.

At the heart of these infrastructures is a green dam and a retention area of several hectares. “The retention basin is a meadow, there’s a dam but the flow of the river is uninterrupted. It stores water only in the event of flooding,” explains Radosław Stodolak, who officiates as a World Bank expert. This type of infrastructure has less impact on the ecosystem than a dam with a permanent water reservoir, which can generate “a change in fauna, flora or the appearance of a microclimate.”

Tadeusz Szewczyk supervises the Roztoki retention basin for Wody Polskie. He proudly remarks from the top of the dam from the top of the dam, “Look around you at how well the facility has been designed to fit into the landscape.” In the distance, a clear view of the Śnieżnik massif. Tadeusz Szewczyk was involved in building the pond for the Porr company. He acknowledges the interference on the local landscape and ecosystem. The ponds cover an area ranging from 21 to 118 hectares (equivalent to 29 to 165 soccer fields). However, the engineer points out that thousands of trees have been planted on each site to compensate for this environmental impact.

Tadeusz Szewczyk explains how the Roztoki retention basin works | Marius Bihel

Protection has a cost

“Every investment has its good and bad points,” confides Piotr Marchewka. Retention basins have a single function: flood protection. “Some of these ponds, such as the one at Szalejów Górny, should be used as bathing areas to stimulate tourism,” says Ryszard Niebieszczański, an elected member of the Kłodzko powiat council.

In accordance with EU funding agreements, the retention basins will have no other function than flood protection for 5 years after commissioning. The construction of the retention basins has caused a stir in the region. “There was a lot of controversy (…) where it involved a small number of expropriations, it was still acceptable, but when it involved larger population displacements, there was strong opposition,” explains Piotr Marchewka. The locations of the retention basins were chosen to minimize expropriation and population displacement.

In Boboszów, Katarzyna Wróbel and her family lived on the site of the new retention basin. In 2012, they learned that their equestrian farm was located on the infrastructure site. For several years they lived in uncertainty. “We were told that we would receive compensation (…) But the sum proposed was derisory. It was a lot of stress, we had around fifty horses at the time and we were living with our 7 children.” With the help of a law firm, Katarzyna Wróbel and her husband obtained higher compensation than they had been offered. “We had started to build our lives on this land from scratch, it’s painful to have it confiscated, but we’re taking our destiny into our own hands.”

Originally from Kłodzko, Przemysław Ziemacki is a journalist with an interest in flood protection. He has no doubts about the ability of reservoirs to hold back floodwater, “but they mean the destruction of the natural character of rivers, their beds are altered, the landscape is no longer the same.” He believes that the money invested in retention basins could have been used to develop natural retention mechanisms “such as restoring peat bogs or other types of wetlands (…) here in the mountains, there’s no need for major investments, it’s mainly a question of stopping the over-exploitation of forests.”

The Boboszów retention basin, with a capacity of 1.4 million cubic metres and a maximum accumulation height of 17 metres. It is the only infrastructure in the project built on the Nysa Kłodzka river, whose source lies some ten kilometres away, in the Śnieżnik massif. | Marius Bihel

“The danger hasn’t gone away”

“Let’s hope that Wody Polskie’s work will prevent another disaster,” says Bożena Krawczyk-Szymańska. It’s been several years since she left the Nysa neighborhood for a less risky area. When it rains for several days in a row, Anna goes to watch the water level on the Nysa Kłodzka.

After heavy rainfall from December 21st to 24th, 2023, the retention basins were put to the test. “In 30 minutes, 10 centimeters of water fell (…) the river level reached 3 meters 20,” recalls Francziszek Niemiec, operator of the Roztoki basin. “These infrastructures will reduce the risks, but the danger has not completely disappeared,” explains Radosław Stodolak.  During a record flood like the one in 1997, “the waves breaking on the rivers carry tens of millions of cubic meters of water”, yet the cumulative retention capacity in the region barely reaches 20 million m3. Retention basins can “recover some of this water, but certainly not all of it”, adds the hydrologist. In a disaster of this magnitude, nature takes over. “There is no flood protection system that is 100% safe,” explains the hydrologist.

Franciszek Niemiec, operator of the Roztoki dam, observes the structure of the dam downstream. | Marius Bihel

Retention basins will help alleviate a flood in the scenario where the Bystrycza Dusznicka and the Nysa Kłodzka flood, but if it’s the Biała Lądecka, there are no dams or retention basins. According to Radosław Stodolak a flood wave on this tributary has a rather high probability of synchronizing with a flood wave on the Nysa Kłodzka. “The challenge is to limit the size of the flood wave on the tributaries before the overlapping flood waves cause flooding on the Nysa Klodzka river and in communities along this river,” explains the hydrologist. The Biała Lądecka valley is too densely populated to build a retention basin. Eventually Marek Źródłowski, director of the local Wody Polskie branch, hopes that the area’s retention capacity can be increased to “prevent the accumulation of flood waves in Kłodzko.”

In the 70s, Filip Fediuk, a psychic, is said to have predicted that in Kłodzko on the day the three 7s meet, the wolf will drink water. The millennium flood took place on 7/7/1997 and this wolf, carved on an old building in the town center, drank the water. It’s a legend that many locals tell when they revisit the flood. Some claim that the psychic also predicted that the lion would drink water. Near the Kłodzko town hall, there’s a fountain topped by a sculpture of a lion. The building is perched some ten meters higher than the wolf. It’s unlikely that the Nysa Kłodzka will rise so high, but as a young resident of Kłodzko confides, “you can’t control nature”. In these times of climate change, it’s not out of the question that yet another major flood could hit the Kłodzko valley.

European unionThis article was produced as part of The Newsroom 27 competition, organised by Slate.fr with the financial support of the European Union. The article reflects the views of the author and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for its content or use.