ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Evaluating the Catastrophic Rainfall
of 14 July 2016 in the Catchment Basin
of the Urbanized Strzyza Stream
in Gdańsk, Poland
Wojciech Szpakowski, Michał Szydłowski
More details
Hide details
Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Department of Hydraulic Engineering, 11 Narutowicza str. 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
Submission date: 2017-05-29
Final revision date: 2017-07-14
Acceptance date: 2017-07-18
Online publication date: 2017-12-13
Publication date: 2018-01-26
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2018;27(2):861-869
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
We analyzed the causes, the course, and consequences of the extreme precipitation events that occurred
14 July 2016 in the watershed of Strzyza Creek in Gdańsk, Poland. Automated rain gauges located in
Strzyża catchment registered a total precipitation lasting about 16 hours – from 129 to 160 mm of rain
depth. More in-depth analysis based on rain data collected by Gdańsk University of Technology (GUT)
rain station was done. The course of rainfall was compared with existing rain models on the national
range and also with local rain formula. The results showed that, according to the Chomicz classification,
the rainfall can be qualified as torrential. Its course far exceeded the theoretical values calculated for
the probability of occurrence 1% (return time: 100 years). Although the analyzed rain episode was
characterized by extremely high instantaneous rainfall intensities, the duration of the most intensive
middle stage of about eight hours caused the highest daily rain sum registered in Gdańsk in the history
of meteorological measurements. As a result, the rainfall caused two fatalities in the lower part of the
Strzyza watershed. It was noted that this type of rain qualified as an extraordinary event at the turn of the
XX and XXI centuries in areas located in the Mediterranean region. Rainfalls that currently occurr in this
part of Europe are also characterized by proportionally higher parameters that should be considered as an
indisputable effect of climate change on a global scale.