HYDROLOGICAL FORECASTING AND ACTIVITIES IN BULGARIA IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DAREFFORT PROJECT

Abstract

Floods are the most frequent and widespread natural disasters worldwide (WMO, 2013). In 2006 for instance, exceptionally high river levels caused loss of lives and considerable economic losses in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Thus risk prevention strategies were reconsidered and the need for common solutions for the Danubian countries was outlined. Non-structural measures to mitigate flood risk as is the improvement of forecasting capabilities on a basin-wide scale are known to be highly effective. The DAREFFORT project is a horizontal initiative to implement a flood risk mitigation measure in a joint and sustainable way on catchment level. The main output was the Danube Region Enhanced Flood Forecasting Cooperation that was a step towards creating the basis of ICPDR Danube Hydrologic Information System (HIS). This was only reached through a standardized data format utilized by the responsible national organizations and improved data exchange between the participating countries as reliable and comprehensive hydrologic data is the basis of sound forecasting in any country. In this paper the Bulgarian experience and contribution to the DAREFFORT project is presented. This study is aimed at overviewing the present status of the national forecasting capabilities and main topics are the process of the hydrological forecasting, data flow, data processing and data exchange.