1981 – YEAR OF DISASTERS
Introduction
The year 1981 ranks among the most dramatic chapters in the town’s modern history. Within a few months, the dam of the Town Pond (Stadtteich, Jezírko) burst, extensive flood damage occurred, roads and utilities were disrupted, and a petrol station in the very centre of town collapsed. The entire year was marked by exceptional climatic extremes – sudden thaws, torrential rains, summer heatwaves and early snow calamities. The events of 1981 were connected by one inconspicuous yet decisive element: water and the underground.
First Warnings and the March Flood
The year began symbolically and dramatically. As early as 1 January, during the traditional New Year ascent to Klínovec, the weather changed abruptly – from a clear sky to dense fog and even a thunderstorm with lightning and thunder within a short time. January brought heavy snowfall and severe frost. Although a brief thaw arrived in early February, the real turning point came in March.
On International Women’s Day, persistent rain began to fall. The snow disappeared rapidly and watercourses started to rise. Even an inconspicuous stream flowing from beneath the spoil heap at Slovany turned into a torrent, carving a new channel across the construction site of the health centre and rushing down Dukelských hrdinů Avenue towards the petrol station. The water carried away asphalt and stones and flooded the cellars of houses and the town hall. On 12 March, the local fire brigade was placed on alert and the flood commission convened. There was a real threat that the dam of the Town Pond would give way. A permanent watch was established and residents were urged not to sleep on the ground floors of their homes. The road towards Abertamy was closed and traffic was diverted via Hroznětín, Merklín and Mariánská.
The Breach of the Town Pond Dam
The decisive moment came on Friday, 13 March 1981, at 1:40 a.m. The dam of the Town Pond burst with a thunderous crash. The breach measured approximately six metres in width, and through the narrow valley surged a roughly one-metre-high wave of water, mud and stones that swept away trees, road surfaces and parts of retaining walls. Horní Žďár was immediately evacuated, where the water eventually spread out and lost its destructive force. Below the town, the pharmaceutical warehouse in Petrov Mill (then Medika) was completely flooded, leading to water contamination as far as the Ohře River.
The cause of the dam failure was a combination of extreme inflow from melting snow and a long-neglected outflow channel behind the safety spillway, which was narrow and clogged. A V-shaped gap opened in the dam – six metres missing at the top and about three at the bottom. The footpath leading to the dam and mature trees disappeared entirely. For a time, the town remained accessible only by diversion routes.
Deployment of Emergency Services and the Army
Clearance work began almost immediately. At 4:30 a.m., the first heavy machinery of the District Road Administration arrived, followed by additional units including the Ohře River Authority, the Technical Services, and both volunteer and professional firefighters. In the area below the Investigation Institute, the riverbank near the gas pressure reduction station was undermined and there was a risk of explosion. By order of the Minister of National Defence, an army engineering unit was dispatched. Within two hours, the soldiers constructed a temporary bridge, enabling heavy equipment to reach and secure the gas station. The army also assisted in removing the remaining pharmaceuticals from the flooded warehouse.
The swollen Suchá stream clogged culverts and threatened the transformer station of the Škoda Ostrov enterprise. One of the small bridges had to be blasted with explosives, which interrupted the road connection to Ostrov. Despite the scale of the destruction, remarkably no one was injured during the flood or in its immediate aftermath.
Extreme Weather Fluctuations
Even after the water receded, the town found no relief. On the night of 17 to 18 April, temperatures dropped to minus five degrees Celsius and fresh snow fell. In May, a rapid warming was followed by twenty-four hours of continuous rain. In June, drought set in and temperatures exceeded thirty degrees Celsius. On 17 July, a three-day torrential downpour began, flooding St Joachim’s Church, whose roof was under reconstruction at the time and partially removed. The sewage system in the town centre forced water back onto the surface, and municipal heating had to be restarted. In August, intense heat returned and lasted until 20 September, when 29 degrees Celsius was recorded. At the end of November, a snow calamity brought up to fifty centimetres of snow and temperatures around minus 17 degrees Celsius. The shortage of fuel, following the September collapse of the petrol station, complicated winter maintenance, as fuel had to be supplied by tanker trucks.
Collapse of the Petrol Station
Another disaster struck unexpectedly on 29 September 1981 at 6:10 p.m. In the centre of town, the attendant’s booth of the petrol station suddenly collapsed into the ground. The attendant had just stepped onto the pavement moments before and thus escaped injury. A crisis commission was immediately convened and access to the area was restricted. Fuel was pumped out of the underground tanks into tanker trucks; fortunately, the tanks themselves were not damaged.
The cause was not solely the spring flood but primarily the disturbance of old mining workings. Underground, adits from the sixteenth and twentieth centuries intersected. The situation was further aggravated by inaccuracies in mining maps and by blasting during the excavation of a new adit. Securing works continued until 2 October, when 60 cubic metres of concrete were pumped into the cavity and additional stone was added. A geological survey revealed an extensive system of historic mine workings, including the Schindler vein and the Daniel adit. The cost of the geological investigation reached 7,000,000 Czechoslovak crowns. Full traffic through the town was restored on 18 November.
Conclusion
The year 1981 clearly demonstrated how closely the town is linked to water and to its underground. The March flood exposed weaknesses in technical infrastructure, while the September collapse reminded residents of the complex mining past that still lies beneath the surface. Although the material damage was considerable, no injuries occurred. The year remains both a warning and a testimony to the power of nature and the enduring legacy of history hidden below the town.
Photo gallery – Dam breach: http://mipalfi.rajce.idnes.cz/Protrzeni_hraze/
Photo gallery – Petrol station collapse: http://mipalfi.rajce.idnes.cz/Propad_benzinky/
