Last year, on the morning of September 15, Hanušovice was hit by a flood wave that came after heavy rains with virtually no warning. Water from the flooded Morava and the Branná tributary overcame the protective barriers, the bank breached in some places, and within about ten minutes the water level rose significantly. Most people did not have time to evacuate, they stayed in their houses and watched as the streets and the city center quickly turned into one big flooded stream.
River levels in the area then reached values corresponding to an extreme flood. In Raškov pod Hanušovice, the Morava peaked at approximately 450 centimeters with a flow of around 280 cubic meters per second, above the third flood level for a long time.
Povodí Morava later stated that the design parameters of five-hundred-year-old water were exceeded in places in the upper Morava section, which was reflected in the extent of damage in Hanušovice and the surrounding area.
The consequences were devastating. The water flooded the center and several residential streets, including the housing estate in Na Holbě Street. It washed away parts of roads, sidewalks and utility networks, demolished the football stadium and the children’s playground in the sports area. The town hall later calculated the total damage at nearly one hundred million crowns, of which tens of millions fell on the sports field.
For the residents, it was one of the most difficult tests in recent years. In some houses, the water stood over a meter high, the flood took fences, bus stops and garden houses. Hundreds of people were evacuated, others stayed on higher floors and waited for the instructions of the rescuers.
Dozens of volunteers, firefighters, mountain service and prisoners from Mírov and Olomouc joined the cleaning shortly after the water receded. At the same time, the city announced a charity fundraiser to help the most affected and restore the city’s infrastructure.
A lake instead of fields
The water from Hanušovice was then followed by flooded streams in the wider area of Šumperk. Desná in Šumperk reached the highest, third flood stage, and the city was preparing for the evacuation of residents in the most threatened streets.
The spilled water flooded the lower lying meadows and fields between Šumperk and Zábřeh, in some places it reached local roads and the railway line, so traffic in the region was significantly limited for several hours.
A year after the floods – Šumpersko Video: Marek Tereba, News
Drone footage from that time shows wide swaths of water spilled across the landscape between the two cities. Where today there are again plowed fields and green areas, last year there was a uniform brown “pond”.
This year’s aerial photographs allow an accurate comparison. It is evident from them where the large water overflowed across the Šumper region in September 2024 and how during the year the flows of the Morava and its tributaries returned to approximately their original banks.
