POPLAVA DUNAVA 1965. GODINE – POGLED S HRVATSKE STRANE
THE DANUBE FLOOD OF 1965 - THE CROATIAN PERSPECTIVE

Summary/Abstract: The Danube’s flow connects the Central and the Southeastern Europe. Throughout history, the Danube was the traffic and agricultural lifeblood of Europe. There were often various situations which we inherited and relive today. Extraordinary consequence connected to rivers is definitely flooding. The river Danube has often flooded the European plains and sometimes even the coastal towns. The water level of the Danube was influenced by the Alps’ melting snow, rain and high water levels of the river’s tributaries. During spring and early summer of 1965, the entire Danube’s water levels were high which caused great damage on the flooded areas. This paper deals in the Danube’s flooding of 1965 in the Croatian Danube Region. The flooding covered Baranja, Vukovar, Osijek and the surrounding areas. Baranja, which is mostly covered in swampland of the Kopački rit, was the first to be hit by the great flood. The wildlife and the agricultural building complexes of Belje badly suffered because of the flood. Vukovar was surrounded by the Danube and its tributary Vuka. Also, badly flooded because of the high water levels, was Osijek, a town on the river Drava. The flooding of the 1965 was documented in the Glas Slavonije and Vukovarske novine newspapers, through personal belongings of the people who lived through it and through the various plans for defence from future floods. Every disaster begets something good and useful and so has this flood – the complete reconstruction of the embankment dams which still, to this day, hold up well against any flood.

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