Fatalities associated with the severe weather conditions in the Czech Republic, 2000–2019
Open Access
- 4 May 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Copernicus GmbH in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
- Vol. 21 (5), 1355-1382
- https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1355-2021
Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of fatalities attributable to weather conditions in the Czech Republic during the 2000–2019 period. The database of fatalities deployed contains information extracted from Právo, a leading daily newspaper, and Novinky.cz, its internet equivalent, supplemented by a number of other documentary sources. The analysis is performed for floods, windstorms, convective storms, rain, snow, glaze ice, frost, heat, and fog. For each of them, the associated fatalities are investigated in terms of annual frequencies, trends, annual variation, spatial distribution, cause, type, place, and time as well as the sex, age, and behaviour of casualties. There were 1164 weather-related fatalities during the 2000–2019 study period, exhibiting a statistically significant falling trend. Those attributable to frost (31 %) predominated, followed by glaze ice, rain, and snow. Fatalities were at their maximum in January and December and at their minimum in April and September. Fatalities arising out of vehicle accidents (48 %) predominated in terms of structure, followed by freezing or hypothermia (30 %). Most deaths occurred during the night. Adults (65 %) and males (72 %) accounted for the majority of fatalities, while indirect fatalities were more frequent than direct ones (55 % to 45 %). Hazardous behaviour accounted for 76 %. According to the database of the Czech Statistical Office, deaths caused by exposure to excessive natural cold are markedly predominant among five selected groups of weather-related fatalities, and their numbers exhibit a statistically significant rise during 2000–2019. Police yearbooks of the fatalities arising out of vehicle accidents indicate significantly decreasing trends in the frequency of inclement weather patterns associated with fatal accidents as well as a decrease in their percentage in annual numbers of fatalities. The discussion of results includes the problems of data uncertainty, comparison of different data sources, and the broader context.This publication has 72 references indexed in Scilit:
- Economic valuation of climate change–induced mortality: age dependent cold and heat mortality in the NetherlandsClimatic Change, 2020
- Heat-waves and mortality in Czech cities: A case study for the summers of 2015 and 2016Geographica Pannonica, 2019
- Lightning-Related Fatalities in Romania from 1999 to 2015Weather, Climate, and Society, 2018
- Effects of damaging hydrogeological events on people throughout 15 years in a Mediterranean regionAdvances in Geosciences, 2017
- Natural hazard fatalities in Switzerland from 1946 to 2015Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2016
- Evaluating road network damage caused by natural disasters in the Czech Republic between 1997 and 2010Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2015
- Long-term trends in weather-related crash risksJournal of Transport Geography, 2009
- Effects of Cold Weather on Mortality: Results From 15 European Cities Within the PHEWE ProjectAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 2008
- Historical Climatology In Europe – The State Of The ArtClimatic Change, 2005
- Weather as a Chronic Hazard for Road Transportation in Canadian CitiesNatural Hazards, 2003