U.S.- Italy Research Workshop on the

Hydrometeorology, Impacts, and Management of Extreme Floods

Perugia (Italy), November 1995

The 1995 alarming river discharges in

the netherlands

A.Buishand

Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute

3730 AE De Bilt

The Netherlands

The paper deals with hydrometeorological aspects of flood events occurred in the Meuse River in December 1993 and January-February 1995 and describes the critical situation along the dikes of the Rhine River in early 1995. These events originated mainly due to widespread intense rainfall and wet antecedent conditions. A number of research topics are considered. They include, the multisite daily rainfall generation and probability distribution of n-days totals, long term variations of seasonal rainfalls and their climatic implications, which are related to the Rhine and Meuse rivers, with emphasis on the design discharges for river dike construction and maintenance in the Netherlands.