Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-542
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-542
30 Mar 2023
 | 30 Mar 2023

Quantitative rainfall analysis of the 2021 mid-July flood event in Belgium

Michel Journée, Edouard Goudenhoofdt, Stéphane Vannitsem, and Laurent Delobbe

Abstract. The exceptional flood of July 2021 in central Europe impacted severely Belgium. As rainfall was the triggering factor of this event, this study aims at characterizing rainfall amounts in Belgium from July 13th to July 16th 2021 based on 2 types of observational data. First, observations recorded by high-quality rain gauges operated by weather and hydrological services in Belgium have been compiled and quality checked. Second, a radar-based rainfall product has been improved to provide a reliable estimation of quantitative precipitation at high spatial and temporal resolutions over Belgium. Several analyses of these data are here performed to describe the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall during the event. These analyses indicate that the rainfall accumulations during the event have reached unprecedented levels over large areas. Accumulations over durations from 1 to 3 days significantly exceeded the 200-year return level at several places, with up to 90 % of exceedance over the 200-year return level for 2-day and 3-day values locally in the Vesdre basin. Such a record-breaking event needs to be documented as much as possible and available observational data must be shared with the scientific community for further studies in hydrology, in urban planning and, more generally, in all multi-disciplinary studies aiming at identifying and understanding factors leading to such disaster. The corresponding rainfall data are therefore provided freely as a supplement (Journée et al., 2023; Goudenhoofdt et al., 2023)..

Michel Journée et al.

Status: final response (author comments only)

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2023-542', Ruben Imhoff, 29 Apr 2023
    • RC2: 'A valuable analysis of this record breaking event', Wolfgang Wagner, 26 May 2023

Michel Journée et al.

Michel Journée et al.

Viewed

Total article views: 422 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
HTML PDF XML Total BibTeX EndNote
281 128 13 422 6 7
  • HTML: 281
  • PDF: 128
  • XML: 13
  • Total: 422
  • BibTeX: 6
  • EndNote: 7
Views and downloads (calculated since 30 Mar 2023)
Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 30 Mar 2023)

Viewed (geographical distribution)

Total article views: 424 (including HTML, PDF, and XML) Thereof 424 with geography defined and 0 with unknown origin.
Country # Views %
  • 1
1
 
 
 
 
Latest update: 07 Jun 2023
Download
Short summary
The exceptional flood of July 2021 in central Europe impacted severely Belgium. This study aims to characterize rainfall amounts in Belgium from July 13th to 16th 2021 based on observational data (i.e., rain gauges data and a radar-based rainfall product). The spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall during the event is described. In order to document such a record-breaking event as much as possible, the rainfall data are shared with the scientific community on Zenodo for further studies.