KLAR!

What’s planned?

The aim of the measure is to reach out to the general public on the one hand and specific target groups on the other, e.g. B. the emergency organizations, property owners, community representatives, to sensitize them to the topic of natural hazards. This is done through various formats tailored to the individual target groups. Of particular importance is the cooperation with regional institutions, such as the civil protection association Styria, the torrent and avalanche control Styria North or the construction district management Liezen. In addition, through an exchange of experiences with existing KLAR! Regions a stronger networking and a supra-regional exchange, e.g. B. between different emergency organizations on the subject of natural hazards.

The following main topics will be addressed:

• Flood protection (including options for self-protection for private households)
• Clauses
• Rockfalls
• Road drainage

What happened?

Visit to the Öblarn water adventure

Die KLAR! Natur- und Geopark Steirische Eisenwurzen invited the young fire brigade from the Palfau section (Palfau and Gams) and their supervisors to the Öblarn water adventure. The demonstration model there enables all age groups in individual guided tours to create a unique awareness of the function of the forest and the possibilities for protection against natural hazards. This true-to-scale demonstration model invites young and old to actively deal with the topics of flooding and blockages.

Link: Fire Brigade – FF Palfau (ff-palfau.at)

Selbstschutz Hochwasser 

Die KLAR! lud im Rahmen des Abschlussfestes der Sommererlebnistage Eltern und Kinder zum Genussmosthof Veitlbauer den Zivilschutzverband Steiermark – Anna Schaunitzer ein. Diese referierte über das wichtige Thema Selbstschutz Hochwasser und informierte die Anwesenden Eltern und Kinder. Wichtige Unterlagen zum Selbstschutz Hochwasser können hier heruntergeladen werden.

Link: Selbstschutz-Hochwasser (steiermark.at)

Des Weiteren war auch die FFW Weißenbach/Enns dabei und präsentierte ihre Einsatzwägen und informierte über ihre Ausrüstung.

Self-protection torrent care and blockage

KLAR! invited to the information event Wildbach & Verklausung to Altenmarkt near St. Gallen. The BH Liezen, Christian Schwaiger presented the legal framework for torrent maintenance. It should be noted that while there are responsibilities, it is better to be safe than sorry. The torrent and avalanche barriers, Rainer Göschl informed from practice and showed what an obstruction can do or how thoughtlessly torrents are obstructed or illegally blocked.

Interesting information about torrent maintenance is available on the website of our neighboring region KLAR! Find the Ennstal region of the future: Wildbachpflege (klar-ennstal.at)

Finally, it must be stated again that torrents have always had a potential for danger. But the climate crisis also increases the potential for extreme weather events (heavy rain), where huge amounts of precipitation cause torrents to rise in a very short time and can have devastating effects. If a torrent has not been properly maintained, i.e. problems have not been remedied, settlement areas can be flooded by flooding caused by blockages. Here, too, the following applies to every torrent riparian: self-protection is the best protection!

Alone in our KLAR! There are more than 50 torrents and ditches that can partially affect settlement areas.

enclosure

Legislative texts

Legal basis:

• Forest Act 1975
  Federal Law Gazette No. 440/1975, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 56/2016
• Styrian Forest Protection Act
  LGBl. No. 21/1982, last amended by LGBl. No. 87/2013
• Regulation of the Provincial Governor of Styria of June 13, 2017, with which the catchment areas of torrents and avalanches in Styria are defined LGBl. No. 51/2017

Forest Act 1975:

A torrent within the meaning of this Federal Act is a permanently or intermittently flowing body of water that, due to rapid and short-lived swelling, removes solids from its catchment area or from its stream bed in dangerous quantities, carries them with it and deposits them inside or outside its bed or in a to other bodies of water. The catchment area of a torrent within the meaning of this federal law is the area of the precipitation area drained by it and its tributaries as well as the deposition area of the torrent. The governor has to determine the catchment areas of the torrents and avalanches by ordinance at the suggestion of the department (§ 102 Para. 1 lit. a) and after hearing the Chamber of Agriculture.

§100
Forest management in catchment areas

(1) Insofar as it appears necessary to avert torrent and avalanche dangers, the authority, after hearing the department (§ 102 Para. 1), in the protective forest in accordance with § 22 Para. 3, in catchment areas of torrents or avalanches

a) to prescribe the use of suitable forest reproductive material of the tree species in question, whereby the forest owner must not incur any significant additional costs,

b) to bind felling in the combat zone of the forest and in work areas of torrent and avalanche control to a permit,

f) Prescribe locally limited felling to avoid imminent landslides, including those of high forest stands, even if these have not yet exceeded the upper limit of cut immaturity within the meaning of Article 80 (3) to (5).
§101
preventive measures in watersheds; Clearing torrents

(1) If the situation in the catchment area of a torrent or an avalanche threatens to deteriorate or is already imminent, so that effective combating of the torrent or avalanche danger is made more difficult or impossible, the authority, if this is not already the case a field of work according to § 1 of the law of June 30, 1884, RGBl. No. 117, in the version of the 1959 water law amendment, Federal Law Gazette No. 54, to determine which preventive measures appear necessary.

(2) Preventive measures according to para. 1 can be in particular:

a) Precautions to prevent the occurrence or expansion of erosion,
b) the reforestation of high altitudes and in the combat zone of the forest,
c) the ban on newly forested areas,
d) the restriction of bringing pursuant to paragraph 4,
e) Restricting the forest pasture to an extent that ensures that torrent and avalanche control measures planned or implemented on the basis of this section are not endangered.

(6) Every municipality through whose area a torrent flows is obliged to allow this and its tributaries within the stretches in its area to be walked at least once a year, preferably in the spring after the snow has melted, and the authority to do this at least two weeks in advance to display. The elimination of any irregularities found, such as the presence of wood or other objects impeding the flow of water, must be arranged immediately. The municipality must report to the authority on the result of the inspection, any measures taken and their success.
(7) The task to be performed by the municipality pursuant to paragraph 6 is one within its own sphere of activity.
(8) According to Art. 10 Para. 2 B-VG, state legislation is authorized to clear the torrents of the objects specified in Para Regulatory bodies to regulate in more detail, taking into account the empirical flood levels.

Styrian Forest Protection Act:

§17
(1) When inspecting torrents within the meaning of Section 101 (6) of the Forestry Act 1975, organs of the hydraulic engineering service and the forestry engineering service of the authority are to be consulted. The torrent and avalanche control services must be informed in good time of the intended inspection.
(2) If damage to the banks, bridges, protective or regulating structures is found, the municipality must report the result of the inspection to the district administrative authority without delay.
(3) If, during the inspection, deficiencies that are not caused by force majeure, such as the presence of wood or other objects impeding water drainage, are discovered, the municipality must issue a notification to the person responsible to remedy the deficiencies within a reasonable period of time.
(4) If it is not possible to identify a person who is obliged to remedy a situation or if there is imminent danger, the municipality must remedy the situation itself without delay.

§18
The tasks to be performed by the municipality according to § 17 of this law are those of its own sphere of activity.

Regarding free flow sections:

§ 47 WRG (Water Law Act)

In the interest of maintaining the water bodies and preventing flooding, the owners of the waterfront properties can be instructed by decision of the water rights authority:

a) the edging and keeping free of individual trees, groups of trees and undergrowth on the embankments and the plots of land in the area of the regularly recurring floods and the corresponding management of the existing vegetation;

c) the elimination of small bank breaches and cracks and the clearing of small channels of sticks, trees, rubble and other objects that prevent drainage or promote the deposit of sand and gravel, provided this does not require special expertise and is not associated with considerable costs.