STUDY OF POSSIBLE FLOODING IN THE CHEMICAL FACTORY AS A BASIS FOR FLOOD MANAGEMENT PLAN IMPROVEMENT

Abstract

The Slovnaft refinery complex is one of the key elements in the Slovak economy. It is situated in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, close to the Danube river. Catastrophic floods, which occurred in the central Europe in the summer of 2002, emphasized urgent need for revision of flood management plan in this important factory. The peak discharge of Danube in Bratislava was close to Q₁₀₀. The flood consequences in Bratislava were not so dramatic as in the Czech Republic, however the weak elements of flood control in the city were discovered. The refinery, area of which is about 5.2 km², is situated in a very flat territory. A lot of refinery objects and technological equipment are vulnerable in the case of flooding, which could occur as a consequence of various crisis scenarios. Overtopping of flood protection dykes or flood protection lines in the city or in the refinery surrounding area, as well as dyke breaks represent the most probable flooding scenarios. The flood management plan of the refinery was out of date, not taking into account dynamic character of possible flooding. Therefore, the refinery representatives turned to Water Research Institute (WRI) experts in the end of 2002 with a request to elaborate study of possible flooding. The cooperating organizations were - DHI Hydro-inform, Prague, DHI Slovakia, Bratislava and Slovak Water Management Enterprise, Danube River Basin Authority in Bratislava. It was decided to apply hydroinformatics software tools of the DHI Water & Environment, Denmark in the frame of study, in order to represent properly dynamic effects of the flooding phenomenon.