Since the middle sixties, statistical analyses have been conducted in Poland on the description and identification of a hydrograph of a typical flood wave1' in rivers according to the concept of Strupczewski (1964). These works have been enlarged by studies on relationships between basic elements of high waters: culmination flow (Qmax), wave volume (V), rising time (ts) and duration of high water (T). (Ciepielowski, Czechowicz, 1984; Ciepielowski, 1987; 1994; Ciepielowski et al., 2001). In this paper I attempt to summarize these studies and to draw conclusions of a pure (on the mechanisms of floods) and applied (on using flood hydrographs in designing sluice and overflow devices in small retention reservoirs) character.