Flood alarm: German environmental aid urgently calls for more protective measures

Flood alarm: German environmental aid urgently calls for more protective measures

German Environmental Aid (DUH) is sounding the alarm and making it clear that many federal states in Germany are not sufficiently prepared for a potential flood of the century. In a recent report by the Borken newspaper Federal Managing Director Sascha Müller-Kraenner emphasizes that the dangers in various regions are assessed as high. There is potential for significant harm to hundreds of thousands of people if effective protective measures are not taken.

The DUH sees a lot of catching up to do in flood prevention, especially in the area of ​​nature-based protection measures. Proposals are needed for the renaturation of floodplains and rivers in order to allow water to drain away better instead of imprisoning it with dikes as is currently the case. The bodies of water should be given more space so that the water can be retained in intact forests, meadows and wetlands.

The current risk gradings

As part of risk assessments, the DUH determined that Bavaria has the highest level of risk. Over 65,000 residential addresses are affected here and around 4.25% of the country's area would be at significant risk in the event of a once-in-a-century flood. North Rhine-Westphalia is also not doing well with 28,000 residential addresses affected; 6.8% of the state's area is at risk. Risk management is underpinned by statistics based on data from the General Association of German Insurers and the Federal Institute for Hydrology.

The assessment shows that federal states such as Brandenburg (6.2%), Saxony-Anhalt (5.9%), Baden-Württemberg (4.7%) and Hesse (4.6%) also have high proportions of endangered areas. In contrast, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has the lowest proportion with only 0.7% of the areas that are threatened by a once-in-a-century flood.

The influence of climate change

Climate change poses additional challenges. It not only brings with it hot summers, but also heavy rain events that have resulted in past flood disasters. The Oekom Magazine describes that it is important to look at the state of our freshwater ecosystems in order to counteract the problem and its climate impacts.

In addition, the Water Resources Act requires the designation of flood areas in order to create and restore retention areas. Loud Federal Environment Agency Various measures were adopted under the National Flood Protection Program (NHWSP) to improve flood protection nationwide. This includes relocating dikes and creating flood retention areas in order to strengthen the ecological functionality of the rivers.

The UBA's calculations also show that planned measures can reduce flood levels by 10 to 50 cm. An important goal is to raise the population's awareness of flood risks and to promote self-precaution. Nevertheless, the current situation is still precarious: in 2021, only 46% of buildings in Germany were insured against natural hazards.

The urgency of action is obvious. Only through a combined approach of technical and natural flood protection measures can effective long-term protection for people and nature be guaranteed.