Rapid flood event analysis in Germany

Project Description

Dresden Flood 2006, Photographer Ulrich Herrmann, GFZ

Flood disaster management actions and reconstruction planning - involving emergency services, relief agencies, insurance and reinsurance industry - benefit from real-time information and fast evaluation of flood consequences.

Within the scope of “rapid flood event analysis” a methodology for the near real time analysis of large scale flood events in Germany will be developed. This comprises the compilation, analysis and evaluation of the hydro-meteorological and hydrological situation in the course of the event right up to the assessment of direct flood damages. On this basis, the event will be comparatively ranked into a catalogue of historic large scale flood events in Germany.

The following research questions will be addressed: What processes and pre-conditions lead to large scale flood events? What are critical factors that control losses in large scale flood disasters? Which are the critical interactions between the natural hazard and socio economic as well as technological systems? What conditions turn a large scale flood event into a disaster?

The project is strongly interrelated with other CEDIM FDA projects. In particular information from the projects ATMO and “Severe weather early warning” concerning the hydro-meteorological situation and development will be used as input. The catalogue of historic large scale flood events in Germany will be developed in coordination with the project “Case based Reasoning”. Results from the “Crowd Sourcing and social sensors projects” will be used for comparison and validation purposes. During and after large scale flood events in Germany, event evaluation reports will be compiled together with the economic and traffic projects.