Mountain stream with inflow to the Fláje dam
The Fláje dam (Czech Údolní nádrž Fláje) is located in the Czech part of the Ore Mountains near Český Jiřetín ("Georgendorf") and dams the Flöha (Czech Flájský potok) in its upper reaches.
The only pillar dam in the Czech Republic was completed in 1963. The dam is used as a drinking water reservoir for the Most district. The dam is 56 m high and 416 m (with “dam crown” (crown structure?) 459 m) long. The Fláje Dam reservoir covers an area of 153 hectares. The water is stowed from a catchment area of approx. 43 km².
Two larger and one small hydropower plant with outputs of 2 x 4 MW and 16 kW use the dam water to generate electricity. The flowing water is dammed up again in the Rauschenbach dam below.
When the dam was built, the town of Fláje ("Fleyh") was flooded and the villages of Vilejšov, Oldříš, Mackov and Pastviny located in the water catchment area were abandoned. The former branch of an old raft ditch from the Flöha, which is dry here, reaches the Saxon area after a few kilometers and flows to Clausnitz in the traffic jam area.