After Pärnu flooding, professor calls for advance planning on water diversion
Water levels in flooded parts of Pärnu, Estonia began receding after Friday's heavy rain, though conditions remain difficult in some areas. A university professor says authorities must plan in advance where to direct water during floods.
Following heavy rainfall on Friday, water levels in flooded areas of Pärnu began to drop, though the situation in some spots remains difficult. Estonia's rescue service worked through the night and into September 5 pumping excess water into the Pärnu River — water that had built up due to clogged drainage pipes and overflow from the Räämä bog.
The worst-affected residents were in Räämä and the coastal district, where both yards and basements were flooded. By morning the water level had dropped somewhat, but conditions stayed difficult. One Räämä resident said water inside his building, which houses a sauna and lawn equipment, reached about 150 centimeters, blaming the city's failure to maintain old drainage pipes. Another resident said she and others pumped water out of her basement repeatedly overnight and in the morning, but around 10 centimeters remained. A coastal-district resident said water had reached ankle height the previous evening but had mostly receded by the time he spoke, leaving cleanup work underway.
Hundreds of households were affected. A representative of insurer Iizi explained that natural flooding — whether from rising sea levels or excessive rainfall — is generally covered by insurance if the policy includes such risks, but urged residents to act immediately as though uninsured, taking every possible step to limit further damage.
Call for a long-term plan
Ottar Tamm, a junior professor of hydroinformatics at the Estonian University of Life Sciences, said such events cannot be fully prevented, but both the state and the city need to plan in advance where floodwater should be directed. He noted that with rainfall this intense, flooding is unavoidable since no system could absorb that volume of precipitation, calling the Pärnu event a genuine disaster. He said the only option is to mitigate consequences by planning ahead — using terrain features to guide water toward desired areas, such as green spaces.
The city of Pärnu had a crisis plan for flooding caused by rising sea levels, but none for flooding caused by heavy rain. Deputy mayor and crisis commission head Sander Kilk said the city has already contacted researchers who will arrive Monday to map, using camera footage, how the water rose and where problem areas were located, allowing plans to be developed for both scenarios.
Flooding also hit the nearby towns of Paikuse, Sindi and Tammiste, where the rescue service is likewise pumping out water.
