Flood of the Moselle

On April 28, 1817, the official water level recordings of the Moselle began at the level Cochem, thus a little over 200 years ago. In order to be able to better estimate the long-term trend behavior of flood discharges, this project includes the reconstruction of historical events that occurred before the official level measurements. This was initially done by means of student theses using over 900 flood marks measured in height between Schengen and Cochem and their plausibility checks using hydraulic calculations and historical reports. This made it possible, for example, to quantify four historical events that had reached or exceeded the "century flood" of 1993. All results are shown in longitudinal sections, which can be downloaded from the file link (see above). In this way, they also serve to sensitize riparians to the importance of sustainable flood prevention. Experience has shown that theoretical analyzes and forecasts are particularly credible for those affected if they relate to historical events whose extent can be visually traced on site in the form of old flood marks.

Thus, the probably oldest mark of this kind at the church in Zell-Merl dates from 1534. Historical reports and local chronicles provide information about events even further back, which are currently being worked on. A focal point is the "Magdalene Flood" of July 1342, which was an extreme event in several respects.

With the data, frequency studies, trend and extreme value analyses were carried out using statistical procedures from the official regulations, including the four historical events. For this purpose, the older data, officially only available as water levels, were to be converted into discharges. At the same time, climate data were considered in order to contribute to the discussion on the often postulated exacerbation effect.

The project has been the subject of several publications and lectures since 2010, and seminars have also been held in Metz in 2018 and at the Trier University of Applied Sciences in 2020.

Prof. Dr. Joachim Sartor

Faculty Civil and Supply Engineering + Food Technology

Department of Civil Engineering