In Olomouc, 400 trees will be cut down due to flooding

Olomouc - Workers today began cutting down trees along the Morava River in Olomouc to prepare the banks for the construction of the next phase of flood protection measures. A total of four hundred trees will be cut down. After the flood protection adjustments are completed, new ones will be planted, said Jan Hodovský, the general director of the Morava River Basin.
    Trees in Olomouc will be cut down along the Morava in the section from the railway bridge to the bridge on Komenského Street. The tree cutting will last until the end of March at the latest, when the Olomouc city hall's permit for cutting trees in the city expires. "Of course, the subsequent construction will also include tree planting," Hodovský noted.
    Flood protection in the city center of Olomouc should now improve, and then preparations for measures in its northern part will begin. Construction work in the center of Olomouc is set to start this year, and after the planned adjustments, the Morava River's channel will be able to hold more water.
    In the autumn of 2013, the flood protection measures were completed, thanks to which residents of the urban quarters Nové Sady and Nový Svět are better protected from floods from the Morava. The costs of the flood protection measures amount to hundreds of millions of crowns, with a significant portion covered by subsidies from the Morava River Basin.
    Residents of Olomouc have faced the devastating consequences of floods several times in recent years. The regional city was hit by a flood in the spring of 2006, causing damage of nearly 50 million crowns. However, the flood in 1997 had far worse consequences for Olomouc.