Exceptional floods in small basins in North-Western Romania and the induced effects – Bârsău River, Maramureș county

The study aims to analyse floods from May 1970, June 1974 and May 2015, which occured in the Bârsau catchment area, one of the right tributaries of the Somes River. The junction between these two rivers is downstream of Satulung locality in Maramures County. Bârsau catchment area is located between the Somes and Lapus catchment areas and has a surface of 152 km2. The floods of the Bârsau River are fast and have a very short propagation time. They are caused both by rainfalls and snow melting. This is the case of the flood from May 1970, which had a duration of two days, whereas the floods from June 1974 and May 2015 occured just because of heavy rainfalls. From the three analyzed floods, the May 2015 flood, with a pluvial origin, reached the maximum level of 220 cm (DL+20 cm) at Buciumi gauging station and its effects strongly affected local people. Thus, the damages in the villages located inside the basin were recorded first, then quantified. After that, there were made the integrating maps of the flood prone areas as well as the hydrological and associated risks in order to identify areas with different degrees of vulnerability.