The Orava, an unpredictable river, brought benefits as well as a lot of misery to the residents who, in the past, lived near the confluence of the rivers Biela and Čierna Orava. This is also proven by archived records. The most terrible flood, also referred to as “Palackého veľká voda” (Palacky’s Great Flood), took place in 1813. Repeated flooding sparked the first ideas and designs on how to reduce the power of the Biela and Čierna Orava as early as 1830 and later in 1842, 1870, 1918, 1923 and 1933, each time after flooding. Archived records show that the first measurements...