The object-specific flood damage database HOWAS 21

Abstract

Abstract. The Flood Damage Database HOWAS 21 contains object-specific flood damage data resulting from fluvial, pluvial and groundwater flooding. The datasets incorporate various variables of flood hazard, exposure, vulnerability and direct tangible damage at properties from several economic sectors. The main purpose of development of HOWAS 21 was to support forensic flood analysis and the derivation of flood damage models. HOWAS 21 was first developed for Germany and currently almost exclusively contains datasets from Germany. However, its scope has recently been enlarged with the aim to serve as an international flood damage database; e.g. its web application is now available in German and English. This paper presents the recent advancements of HOWAS 21 and highlights exemplary analyses to demonstrate the use of HOWAS 21 flood damage data. The data applications indicate a large potential of the database for fostering a better understanding and estimation of the consequences of flooding.

Invited perspectives: An insurer's perspective on the knowns and unknowns in natural hazard risk modelling

“…Research initiatives dedicated to gathering various data sources already exist at the country level. One such example is the HOWAS database for flood damage in Germany (Kreibich et al, 2017;Kellermann et al, 2020). Could this type of work be extended to the whole of Europe or even more globally?…”

A new framework for flood damage assessment considering the within-event time evolution of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability

“…Flood duration is one of the most important factors, together with water depth and flow velocity, also in assessing damage to residential buildings (Carisi et al, 2018;Chen et al, 2016;Grahn and Nyberg, 2014;Kellermann et al, 2020;Kelman and Spence, 2004;Martínez-Gomariz et al, 2020;Merz et al, 2013). Indeed, both structures and contents are typically made of porous materials; therefore, the longer is the flood duration, the more is the water absorbed, and the greater is the damage (Marvi, 2020;Nofal et al, 2020;Soetanto and Proverbs, 2004).…”

Invited perspectives: Current challenges to face knowns and unknowns in natural hazard risk management – an insurer perspective

“…A point of attention is the need for coordination among data collectors and the use of common definition of damages' scale to avoid the creation of multiple, overlapping and not comparable datasets. Research initiatives aiming at gathering various data sources already exist at country level, as for example the HOWAS database for flood damage in Germany (Kreibich et al, 2017;Kellermann et al, 2020).…”