Here Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 2021

Floods are a known natural hazard in Germany, but the amount of precipitation and ensuing high death toll and damages after the events especially from 14 to 15 July 2021 came as a surprise. Almost immediately questions about failure in the early warning chains and the effectiveness of the German res...

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Autores principales:	Alexander Fekete, Simone Sandholz
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	flash flood cascading impacts compounding event multi-risk disaster risk management Germany Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a41563f623144477b85953eb97c1e342
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a41563f623144477b85953eb97c1e3422021-11-11T19:54:37ZHere Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 202110.3390/w132130162073-4441https://doaj.org/article/a41563f623144477b85953eb97c1e3422021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/21/3016https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4441Floods are a known natural hazard in Germany, but the amount of precipitation and ensuing high death toll and damages after the events especially from 14 to 15 July 2021 came as a surprise. Almost immediately questions about failure in the early warning chains and the effectiveness of the German response emerged, also internationally. This article presents lessons to learn and argues against a blame culture. The findings are based on comparisons with findings from previous research projects carried out in the Rhein-Erft Kreis and the city of Cologne, as well as on discussions with operational relief forces after the 2021 events. The main disaster aspects of the 2021 flood are related to issuing and understanding warnings, a lack of information and data exchange, unfolding upon a situation of an ongoing pandemic and aggravated further by critical infrastructure failure. Increasing frequencies of flash floods and other extremes due to climate change are just one side of the transformation and challenge, Germany and neighbouring countries are facing. The vulnerability paradox also heavily contributes to it; German society became increasingly vulnerable to failure due to an increased dependency on its infrastructure and emergency system, and the ensuing expectations of the public for a perfect system.Alexander FeketeSimone SandholzMDPI AGarticleflash floodcascading impactscompounding eventmulti-riskdisaster risk managementGermanyHydraulic engineeringTC1-978Water supply for domestic and industrial purposesTD201-500ENWater, Vol 13, Iss 3016, p 3016 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	flash flood cascading impacts compounding event multi-risk disaster risk management Germany Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500
spellingShingle	flash flood cascading impacts compounding event multi-risk disaster risk management Germany Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 Alexander Fekete Simone Sandholz Here Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 2021
description	Floods are a known natural hazard in Germany, but the amount of precipitation and ensuing high death toll and damages after the events especially from 14 to 15 July 2021 came as a surprise. Almost immediately questions about failure in the early warning chains and the effectiveness of the German response emerged, also internationally. This article presents lessons to learn and argues against a blame culture. The findings are based on comparisons with findings from previous research projects carried out in the Rhein-Erft Kreis and the city of Cologne, as well as on discussions with operational relief forces after the 2021 events. The main disaster aspects of the 2021 flood are related to issuing and understanding warnings, a lack of information and data exchange, unfolding upon a situation of an ongoing pandemic and aggravated further by critical infrastructure failure. Increasing frequencies of flash floods and other extremes due to climate change are just one side of the transformation and challenge, Germany and neighbouring countries are facing. The vulnerability paradox also heavily contributes to it; German society became increasingly vulnerable to failure due to an increased dependency on its infrastructure and emergency system, and the ensuing expectations of the public for a perfect system.
format	article
author	Alexander Fekete Simone Sandholz
author_facet	Alexander Fekete Simone Sandholz
author_sort	Alexander Fekete
title	Here Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 2021
title_short	Here Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 2021
title_full	Here Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 2021
title_fullStr	Here Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 2021
title_full_unstemmed	Here Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 2021
title_sort	here comes the flood, but not failure? lessons to learn after the heavy rain and pluvial floods in germany 2021
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a41563f623144477b85953eb97c1e342
work_keys_str_mv	AT alexanderfekete herecomesthefloodbutnotfailurelessonstolearnaftertheheavyrainandpluvialfloodsingermany2021 AT simonesandholz herecomesthefloodbutnotfailurelessonstolearnaftertheheavyrainandpluvialfloodsingermany2021
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Here Comes the Flood, but Not Failure? Lessons to Learn after the Heavy Rain and Pluvial Floods in Germany 2021

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