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'Our plan worked': How Vienna prepared itself for a 5,000-year flood

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86% Informative

Vienna prepared itself for a 5,000-year flood in one of the most flood-plagued periods in Europe in the past 500 years .

A flood of that size last occurred in 1501 , says Günter Blöschl , a hydrologist and director of the Centre for Water Resource Systems of the Vienna University of Technology .

Vienna 's flood defence system is designed to cope with a flood discharge of 14,000 cubic metres per second.

Austria as a whole has also ramped up its flood protection measures.

Dams, levees and other barriers help protect people by holding back water during a flood.

But they can actually increase the overall risk in the long run, studies suggest.

This is because they can give people a false sense of safety, and encourage them to settle close to waterways.

At worst, it can leave them unprepared in an emergency.

In Austria , accurate forecasts and flood management drills helped save lives during the 2013 flood.

The Arctic is warming faster than the equator because melting ice results in the surface being less reflective and instead, more absorbent of sunlight, says Blöschl .

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