This work examines the main features of the flash flood regime in Central Europe as revealed by an analysis of flash floods that have occurred in Slovakia. The work is organized into the following two parts: The first part focuses on estimating the rainfall-runoff relationships for 3 major flash flood events, which were among the most severe events since 1998 and caused a loss of lives and a large amount of damage. The selected flash floods occurred on the 20th of July, 1998, in the Malá Svinka and Dubovický Creek basins; the 24th of July, 2001, at Štrbský Creek; and the 19th of June, 2004, at Turniansky Creek. The analysis aims to assess the flash flood peaks and rainfall-runoff properties by combining post-flood surveys and the application of hydrological and hydraulic post-event analyses. Next, a spatially-distributed hydrological model based on the availability of the raster information of the landscape’s topography, soil and vegetation properties, and rainfall data was used to simulate the runoff. The results from the application of the distributed hydrological model were used to analyse the consistency of the surveyed peak discharges with respect to the estimated rainfall properties and drainage basins. In the second part these data were combined with observations from flash flood events which were observed during the last 100 years and are focused on an analysis of the relationship between the flood peaks and the catchment area. The envelope curve was shown to exhibit a more pronounced decrease with the catchment size with respect to other flash flood relationships found in the Mediterranean region. The differences between the two relationships mainly reflect changes in the coverage of the storm sizes and hydrological characteristics between the two regions.
In the paper there the questions of selection of representative period for the hydrological characteristics assessment are discussed. Also the characteristics of runoff and precipitation for the periods 1931-1980 and 1961-2000 are presented. The main components of water balance in Slovakia are the basis for comparison of both periods. The assessment of development of runoff condition during the last decades is presented. and V referáte sa diskutujú otázky výberu reprezentatívneho obdobia pre stanovenie hydrologických charakteristík. Ďalej sa uvádzajú charakteristiky odtoku a zrážok za obdobia 1931-1980 a 1961-2000. Na základe hodnotenia hlavných komponentov hydrologickej bilancie Slovenska sa obidve obdobia porovnávajú a opisuje sa vývoj odtokových pomerov ostatného obdobia.