The laboratory modeling of the catastrophic flood in Krymsk

This paper suggests a physical model that explains the origin of the main front of a three-meter wave that moved along the bed of the Adagum River through the town of Krymsk on July 7, 2012 at the time of flooding during rain showers that caused catastrophic destruction and casualties. It has been proven that the cause of the wave origin was a sudden change of water flow intensity resulting from the construction of an unregulated water outlet. The construction was erected without taking changes in climate into consideration and it caused an extreme increase of the volume of rainfall run-off. First, it was experimentally proven that the sudden change of water-flow intensity was associated with the change of the runoff regime through a water outlet pipe that occurred without human involvement.