# A Practical Approach on Reducing the Flood Impact: A Case Study from Romania
## 2 Study Area and Data Series  
### Study Area  
Romania is located in the southeastern part of Europe, in a continental temperate climate, and is crossed by the parallel of 45 degrees north. However, different types of climatic influences are favored by the Carpathians' presence (acting as an orographic barrier), the relatively small distance from the Mediterranean, and the opening of the relief to the east [33]. Therefore, diverse influences are noticed: oceanic in the west and center, continental in the east, Pontic in the Black Sea area, sub-Mediterranean in the southwest, Scandinavian-Baltic in the northeast, and transitional in the south. Since the altitudes vary between 0 and 2544 m, climatic stratification also appears [3]. The study area, Dumbravesti, is located in the central, southeastern part of Romania, in the central part of Prahova county (Figure 1a), very close to the parallel of 45 degrees northern latitude (Figure 1b), in a transitional climatic zone, specific to the area of low hills (the altitude of Dumbravesti is between 229 and 370 m). To the north of the region, not very far, the Carpathians are found, favoring the appearance of a warm wind, the foehn [34]. Precipitation in Dumbravesti primarily occurs as showers from May to July, with the potential for floods in spring (March-April) due to snowmelt [3]. The average annual precipitation is 600 mm/m\({}^{2}\)/year, and the average annual temperature is 10-11 degrees Celsius [35]. The climate and relief, with an elongated valley bordered by hills and the relatively small slope of the riverbed, favor water accumulation during showers [28]. The Varbilau River, which crosses this zone from north to south, plays a significant role in the area's hydrology. It can bring large amounts of water from upstream, contributing to the risk of flash floods that can turn into floods in the Dumbravesti area. Starleaca village is located on the left bank of the river and Dumbravesti on the right. The vegetation consists of mixed forests (beech and others, especially in hilly areas), part of which is replaced by cultivated fields. Agricultural fields are found in the floodplain area. The forests' absence at low altitudes can also favor floods [29]. The soils are impermeable clay loam, podzolic brown, podzolic, and floodplain clay loam. The Dumbravesti commune is composed of six villages. The residence is in a village with the same name. The analysis also includes the Starleanca village, located 1 km east of Dumbravesti (Figure 2). The main road that crosses Dumbravesti is County Road 102. Sfarleanca is crossed by communal road 16 [34]. Moreover, part of the terrain analysis was conducted from the road bridge which crosses the Varbilau River. The bridge is part of a communal road. The Ploiesti-Slanic railway also passes through Dumbravesti commune. It crosses the Dumbravesti village to the south and Sfarleanca to the south and east. Figure 1: (**a**) Location of Prahova County in Romania; (**b**) location of Dumbraveti. Figure 2: Dumbraveti and Sfarleanca villages. This railway is the subject of analysis in the present research. It is located on a southwest-northeast embankment, which starts from the right bank of the Varbilau River (Dumbravesti village) and continues with a bridge over the same river. This embankment has a length of 733 m between the bank and the bridge (Figure 3a). The bridge has three pillars and an opening of 100 m (Figure 3b). The railway continues in the Sfarleanca area with another embankment of about 150 m (Figure 4). Then, it changes direction from south to north (but not on an embankment) in the western part of Sfarleanca. The houses in Sfarleanca are located very close to the river, placing them at risk during high-water events. The river flow direction (from north to south), the relatively small opening of the bridge, the embankment direction (from southwest to northeast),  
Figure 4: Bridge and the second embankment (150 m). The blue arrow indicates the flow direction.