Pražská plynárenská a.s. (PP, a.s.) is one of the sellers and distributors of natural gas in the Prague area.

The priorities when ensuring gas supplies to the Prague area are:

• safety and reliability of delivery : the company ensures the required amount of gas for all categories of consumers under normal operating conditions, but also in exceptional circumstances (incidents or states of emergency),
• safety of operations : the company ensures the safety of gas equipment in order to protect the property, health and life of the public. During floods in general, the company aims to maintain the supply of gas. However, for safety reasons it is often necessary to cut off natural gas supplies.

Procedures when dealing with floods

1st phase : preparation

During the preparation phase, the emergency committee of PP, a.s. activates the action plan for ensuring safe and reliable deliveries of gas, and monitors the water level of the river Vltava.

2nd phase : during a flood

During a flood, the STATE OF EMERGENCY is declared (the flood of 2002 was the first time in the history of PP, a.s.).

The main people concerned are informed by fax and e-mail : mayors of the affected city authorities, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Main Gas Control Centre, and the neighbouring distribution company, etc.

The gas supply of threatened areas is cut off in order to ensure safety. In the case of the 2002 flood, the reason for this preventive measure was poor access to flooded gas equipment, which implied that the safety of the gas supply could not be ensured.

There is an increased surveillance and monitoring of important company buildings and gas distribution equipment (pipes, control stations, networks along rivers and on bridges).

The company provides specific intervention teams, equipping them with disposable gloves, breathing apparatus and disinfectants.

3rd phase : after the flood

After the flood, the public and city authorities are informed of the procedure before and during the restoration of gas supplies to household gas distribution systems.

When access is possible to gas equipment, gas consumption equipment and metering equipment, checks and repairs are made before they are put back into operation.

In terms of humanitarian aid, after the flood of 2002, PP, a.s. took upon itself the duty of repairing gas consumption equipment damaged by the flood at its own expense even though it was not in its ownership (piping in houses, boiler rooms etc.).

Information processing and dissemination

In order to process the information, the company establishes lists of :

• flooded streets with interrupted gas supplies,
• interrupted supplies for important customers in the central part of Prague who ensure infrastructure operations,
• buildings with impaired structural soundness with interrupted gas supply.

It elaborates the minutes from the meeting of the emergency committee and enters details into the logbook used during floods (current information about numbers of interrupted and restored gas supplies).

Important activities

An important activity of the company is to provide information and ensure co-operation between network administrators and individual city authorities and neighbouring municipalities.

It maintains direct contact with decisive network administrators, and regularly participates in crisis teams.

The company has records containing contact data of all the institutions involved in dealing with the consequences of crisis situations.

Representatives of PP, a.s. participated in the crisis teams of Prague 1 and Prague 8, the areas that were the worst affected by the 2002 flood. Co-ordination of local authorities in charge of road administration and other affected infrastructure was ensured.

During the flood of 2002, on the 30th August, 7,994 customers remained without gas. At the end of January 2003, the number of consumers in Karlin and the surrounding area who remained without gas was reduced to 317.

On the 31st October 2002, PP, a.s. ended its STATE OF EMERGENCY in the Prague area, with the exception of the Prague 8 neighbourhood. On the 31st May 2003, PP, a.s. ended the STATE OF EMERGENCY in this neighbourhood, which had been declared on the 14th August 2002.

Financial loss experienced by the company due to the August 2002 flood

Overall costs incurred by Pražská plynárenská, a.s. due to the floods, for the period from the 12th August to the 31st December 2002 are over CZK 115.1 million (3.743 million. EURO). Of this, costs directly linked to gas equipment reached CZK 59.4 million (1.932 mil. EUR), financial losses from unsold gas are estimated at CZK 39.6 million (1.288 million EUR).

In the area of Karlín, the renewal of the gas pipe network cost approximately CZK 26 million (0.845 million EUR).