Timiş River Flooding in Banat (Romania) in 2005

Flooding that occurs in the Banat basin is a natural and frequent phenomenon on the water courses in this catchment area, where 1,085 km of the water courses are dammed and there are also numerous hydrotechnical and water management works. Although these works are well made and are intended to protect against floods, a review of these natural phenomena occurring in Banat highlights the fact that over a period of approximately 250 years, major flooding has occurred with a frequency of about once every 30 years, and in some cases these phenomena occur every few years, for example the floods of 2005 which occurred just five years after the floods of 2000. In almost every month in 2005 (February- September), throughout Romania, river water volumes exceeded the capacity that water defences were built to handle. The most important floods in Banat occurred in April. In April 2005 heavy rains were recorded in the Banat region: Oraviţa (226.4 mm), Resița (205.3 mm), Lugoj (201.2 mm), Caransebeş (200.6 mm). These rain falls exceeded previously recorded maximum monthly levels. This rainfall combined with snow melt - the thickness of snow layers in the mountains at that time exceeded one meter (Ţarcu - 126 cm, Semenic - 26 cm) - led to historically significant flooding from April to September 2005, affecting extensive areas and resulting in casualties and significant property damage.