DANUBE RIVER BASIN ENHANCED FLOOD FORECASTING COOPERATION (DAREFFORT) – DANUBE TRANSNATIONAL PROGRAMME

Project duration: June 2018–May 2021

The project is co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF and ENI)

Up-to-date information can be found on the site www.interreg-danube.eu/dareffort

The Danube Region is the most international river basin in the world with many crucial tributaries. 14 countries have major catchments along the River Danube. Occurrence of floods in the Danube river basin is increasingly frequent (2002, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014), urging the need for a more effective and better harmonized regional and cross-border cooperation in the field of flood forecasting. Floods does not recognize political and administrative borders, but provoke international cooperations on basin level to reduce flood risks. The need for enhanced cooperation in flood protection was officially recognized in international and interregional policy documents like EUSDR PA5 and PA4 Action plans, the EU Floods Directive (EU FD 2007/60/EC) and the first FRMP of the Danube region.

Main objectives of the project :

• Evaluation and comprehensive overview of all flood and ice forecasting systems in the Danube region. Identification the needs of the individual countries in terms of hydrological data requirements.
• Identify and promote best practice examples on flood and ice forecasting.
• Enhance the intrnational cooperation at the Danube river basin for more effective flood forecasting.
• Enhance the access to the recorded hydrologic and ice data and to provide harmonized distribution for all the countries in the Danube catchment. Creating the basis of ICPDR Danube Hydrologic Information System (HIS) and European Flood Awarness System (EFAS) ensuring the durability and sustainability of the project results and their long-term support for Danube countries.

Target groups to whom this project is addressed:

• International Organizations
• National public Authorities
• Regional public Authorities related to water management
• Infrastructute and public service providers
• Higher Education and Research

Project outputs:

• Evaluation report on flood and ice forecasting
• Common vision of cooperation
• Policy recommendations for exchange of data
• Observed data exchange software
• Expert workshops on knowledge exchange
• Guidelines on data management
• E-learning on flood and ice forecasting practices. Development of material that will be tused by the experts of national and regional authorities responsible for monitoring and forecasting of the floods and ice and in the same time it will be useful to provide a full university course content.

NIMH is a partner in the project and will participate in all work package activities.By participating in the project, the communication and relations with other partners in the Danube River basin will be strengthened in the field of flood forecasting and early warning systems for floods.

The exchange of knowledge and good practices within the project will contribute to the development of flood modeling and forecasting in the Danube basin, which is one of the main research tasks of NIMH. he exchange of experience will expand our knowledge and capabilities in ice forecasting.