After the extreme flood in 2002: changes in preparedness, response and recovery of flood-affected residents in Germany between 2005 and 2011

Abstract

Abstract. In the aftermath of the severe flooding in Central Europe in August 2002, a number of changes in flood policies were launched in Germany and other European countries, aiming at improved risk management. The question arises as to whether these changes have already had an impact on the residents' ability to cope with floods, and whether flood-affected private households are now better prepared than they were in 2002. Therefore, computer-aided telephone interviews with private households in Germany that suffered from property damage due to flooding in 2005, 2006, 2010 or 2011 were performed and analysed with respect to flood awareness, precaution, preparedness and recovery. The data were compared to a similar investigation conducted after the flood in 2002.After the flood in 2002, the level of private precautions taken increased considerably. One contributing factor is the fact that, in general, a larger proportion of people knew that they were at risk of flooding. The best level of precaution was found before the flood events in 2006 and 2011. The main reason for this might be that residents had more experience with flooding than residents affected in 2005 or 2010. Yet, overall, flood experience and knowledge did not necessarily result in building retrofitting or flood-proofing measures, which are considered as mitigating damages most effectively. Hence, investments still need to be stimulated in order to reduce future damage more efficiently.Early warning and emergency responses were substantially influenced by flood characteristics. In contrast to floodaffected people in 2006 or 2011, people affected by flooding in 2005 or 2010 had to deal with shorter lead times and therefore had less time to take emergency measures. Yet, the lower level of emergency measures taken also resulted from the people's lack of flood experience and insufficient knowledge of how to protect themselves. Overall, it was noticeable that these residents suffered from higher losses. Therefore, it is important to further improve early warning systems and communication channels, particularly in hilly areas with rapid-onset flooding.

New insights into flood warning reception and emergency response by affected parties

“…The overall financial loss estimates sum up to EUR 8000 million (Thieken et al, 2016a). After 2002After , floods occurred in 2005After , 2006After , 2010After and 2011 in the Danube and Elbe catchments (Kienzler et al, 2015). Thus, due to this increased flood experience and intensive risk communication campaigns after 2002, residents and companies were highly aware of the flood risk and better prepared, as already demonstrated for the smaller flood of 2006 .…”

“…Important factors influencing the effectiveness of emergency response in reducing damage are the lead time, the flood intensity and the ability of civil protection and affected parties to undertake emergency measures effectively (Handmer et al, 1988;Penning-Rowsell and Green, 2000;Kreibich et al, 2007a;Molinari and Handmer, 2011;Molinari et al, 2013;Mross et al, 2016). The longer the lead time, the longer the time for undertaking emergency measures.…”

“…on recent flood experience, preparedness and availability of emergency plans (Thieken et al, 2007;Kreibich et al, 2007b;Chinh et al, 2016;Morss et al, 2016). People who have witnessed a flood recently tend to be better prepared and tend to have a better idea of what to do when a warning reaches them (Wind et al, 1999;Yeo, 2002;Kienzler et al, 2015). However, it should be noted that first response behaviour is not directed towards loss reduction but towards cross-checking the warning by searching for further confirmative information (Creutin et al, 2009 cited by Parker and Priest, 2012).…”

A Novel Modeling Approach to Quantify the Influence of Nitrogen Inputs on the Oxygen Dynamics of the North Sea

“…This can be attributed to the Elbe flood in January 2011 (e.g., Kienzler et al, 2015;Mudersbach et al, 2017). Interestingly, the Elbe flood in August 2002 (Ulbrich et al, 2003;Kienzler et al, 2015;Mudersbach et al, 2017) is not reflected in a higher DE contribution in 2002, as the related loads reached the ODZ site after the growing season. However, it explains the large DE contribution of 18.2% in 2003 which is the second largest during the entire period.…”

“…The absolute annual riverine TN input into the TBNT domain ( Figure 3B; Ulbrich et al, 2003) and late summer 2010 (e.g., Kienzler et al, 2015;Philipp et al, 2015), respectively.…”