Articles | Volume 21, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1599-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1599-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 May 2021
Research article |
| 26 May 2021
| 26 May 2021
Residential flood loss estimated from Bayesian multilevel models
Guilherme S. Mohor
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Annegret H. Thieken
Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Oliver Korup
Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Related authors
Ravi Kumar Guntu, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Annegret H. Thieken, Meike Müller, and Heidi Kreibich
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1715, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1715, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The 2021 flood in Germany caused severe damage to companies, with over half reporting losses above €100,000. Using probabilistic models, we identify key factors driving direct damage and business interruption. Water depth, flow velocity and company exposure were key factors, but preparedness played a crucial role. Companies that took good precaution recovered faster. Our findings stress the value of early warnings and risk communication to reduce damage from unprecedented flood events.
Sarah Lindenlaub, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, and Annegret Thieken
Abstr. Int. Cartogr. Assoc., 9, 22, https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-9-22-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-9-22-2025, 2025
Heidi Kreibich, Kai Schröter, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Anne F. Van Loon, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Guta Wakbulcho Abeshu, Svetlana Agafonova, Amir AghaKouchak, Hafzullah Aksoy, Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Blanca Aznar, Laila Balkhi, Marlies H. Barendrecht, Sylvain Biancamaria, Liduin Bos-Burgering, Chris Bradley, Yus Budiyono, Wouter Buytaert, Lucinda Capewell, Hayley Carlson, Yonca Cavus, Anaïs Couasnon, Gemma Coxon, Ioannis Daliakopoulos, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Claire Delus, Mathilde Erfurt, Giuseppe Esposito, Didier François, Frédéric Frappart, Jim Freer, Natalia Frolova, Animesh K. Gain, Manolis Grillakis, Jordi Oriol Grima, Diego A. Guzmán, Laurie S. Huning, Monica Ionita, Maxim Kharlamov, Dao Nguyen Khoi, Natalie Kieboom, Maria Kireeva, Aristeidis Koutroulis, Waldo Lavado-Casimiro, Hong-Yi Li, Maria Carmen LLasat, David Macdonald, Johanna Mård, Hannah Mathew-Richards, Andrew McKenzie, Alfonso Mejia, Eduardo Mario Mendiondo, Marjolein Mens, Shifteh Mobini, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Viorica Nagavciuc, Thanh Ngo-Duc, Huynh Thi Thao Nguyen, Pham Thi Thao Nhi, Olga Petrucci, Nguyen Hong Quan, Pere Quintana-Seguí, Saman Razavi, Elena Ridolfi, Jannik Riegel, Md Shibly Sadik, Nivedita Sairam, Elisa Savelli, Alexey Sazonov, Sanjib Sharma, Johanna Sörensen, Felipe Augusto Arguello Souza, Kerstin Stahl, Max Steinhausen, Michael Stoelzle, Wiwiana Szalińska, Qiuhong Tang, Fuqiang Tian, Tamara Tokarczyk, Carolina Tovar, Thi Van Thu Tran, Marjolein H. J. van Huijgevoort, Michelle T. H. van Vliet, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Thorsten Wagener, Yueling Wang, Doris E. Wendt, Elliot Wickham, Long Yang, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, and Philip J. Ward
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2009–2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2009-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2009-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk management. We present a dataset containing data of paired events, i.e. two floods or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The dataset enables comparative analyses and allows detailed context-specific assessments. Additionally, it supports the testing of socio-hydrological models.
Annegret H. Thieken, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Heidi Kreibich, and Meike Müller
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 165–185, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-165-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-165-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Various floods hit Germany recently. While there was a river flood with some dike breaches in 2013, flooding in 2016 resulted directly from heavy rainfall, causing overflowing drainage systems in urban areas and destructive flash floods in steep catchments. Based on survey data, we analysed how residents coped with these different floods. We observed significantly different flood impacts, warnings, behaviour and recovery, offering entry points for tailored risk communication and support.
Daniela Molinari, Anna Rita Scorzini, Chiara Arrighi, Francesca Carisi, Fabio Castelli, Alessio Domeneghetti, Alice Gallazzi, Marta Galliani, Frédéric Grelot, Patric Kellermann, Heidi Kreibich, Guilherme S. Mohor, Markus Mosimann, Stephanie Natho, Claire Richert, Kai Schroeter, Annegret H. Thieken, Andreas Paul Zischg, and Francesco Ballio
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2997–3017, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2997-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2997-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Flood risk management requires a realistic estimation of flood losses. However, the capacity of available flood damage models to depict real damages is questionable. With a joint effort of eight research groups, the objective of this study was to compare the performances of nine models for the estimation of flood damage to buildings. The comparison provided more objective insights on the transferability of the models and on the reliability of their estimations.
Lisa Dillenardt and Annegret H. Thieken
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3257–3278, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-3257-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-3257-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The influence of flood types, i.e., fluvial, flash, and urban pluvial floods, on whether and how flood-affected people prepare for flooding is unclear but relevant for effective risk communication. Survey data revealed the influence of flood type on the adaptive behavior of households recently affected by flooding. Most respondents were motivated to protect themselves, but flood-type-specific differences have been identified to enhance future risk communication strategies.
Amalie Skålevåg, Lena Katharina Schmidt, Nele Eggers, Jana Tjeda Brettin, Oliver Korup, and Axel Bronstert
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3683, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3683, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).
Short summary
Short summary
As glaciers retreat in mountain regions, heavy rainstorms increasingly control how much soil and sediment rivers carry downstream. We analysed rainfall and sediment data over 21 years in the Austrian Alps and found short, intense storms becoming more important for sediment movement, although total annual sediment transport is declining as glaciers shrink. This shift may increase flood hazards, affecting ecosystems and water quality downstream.
Timothy Tiggeloven, Colin Raymond, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Jana Sillmann, Annegret H. Thieken, Sophie L. Buijs, Roxana Ciurean, Emma Cordier, Julia M. Crummy, Lydia Cumiskey, Kelley De Polt, Melanie Duncan, Davide M. Ferrario, Wiebke S. Jäger, Elco E. Koks, Nicole van Maanen, Heather J. Murdock, Jaroslav Mysiak, Sadhana Nirandjan, Benjamin Poschlod, Peter Priesmeier, Nivedita Sairam, Pia-Johanna Schweizer, Tristian R. Stolte, Marie-Luise Zenker, James E. Daniell, Alexander Fekete, Christian M. Geiß, Marc J. C. van den Homberg, Sirkku K. Juhola, Christian Kuhlicke, Karen Lebek, Robert Šakić Trogrlić, Stefan Schneiderbauer, Silvia Torresan, Cees J. van Westen, Judith N. Claassen, Bijan Khazai, Virginia Murray, Julius Schlumberger, and Philip J. Ward
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2771, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2771, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscience Communication (GC).
Short summary
Short summary
Natural hazards like floods, earthquakes, and landslides are often interconnected which may create bigger problems than when they occur alone. We studied expert discussions from an international conference to understand how scientists and policymakers can better prepare for these multi-hazards and use new technologies to protect its communities while contributing to dialogues about future international agreements beyond the Sendai Framework and supporting global sustainability goals.
Thi Dieu My Pham, Paul Hudson, Annegret H. Thieken, and Philip Bubeck
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3021, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3021, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS).
Short summary
Short summary
Experiencing severe flooding and COVID-19 together adversely affects mental health. A 2020 survey in Vietnam found that 20 % of participants experienced mental distress, whereas 80 % did not. Flood risk factors include livelihood difficulties, seeing dead human bodies, and being rescued; COVID-19 stressors relate to individual health impacts and interrupted education. These findings highlight the need to address health risks from multiple sources and provide more support for at-risk communities.
Ravi Kumar Guntu, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Annegret H. Thieken, Meike Müller, and Heidi Kreibich
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1715, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1715, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The 2021 flood in Germany caused severe damage to companies, with over half reporting losses above €100,000. Using probabilistic models, we identify key factors driving direct damage and business interruption. Water depth, flow velocity and company exposure were key factors, but preparedness played a crucial role. Companies that took good precaution recovered faster. Our findings stress the value of early warnings and risk communication to reduce damage from unprecedented flood events.
Maria Isabel Arango-Carmona, Paul Voit, Marcel Hürlimann, Edier Aristizábal, and Oliver Korup
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1698, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1698, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We studied 22 cascading landslide and torrential events in tropical mountains to understand how rainfall, slopes, and soil types interact to trigger them. We found that extreme rainfall alone is not always the cause, but long wet periods and sediment type also play a role. Our findings can help improve warning systems and reduce disaster risks in vulnerable regions.
Tim Busker, Daniela Rodriguez Castro, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Jaap Kwadijk, Davide Zoccatelli, Rafaella Loureiro, Heather J. Murdock, Laurent Pfister, Benjamin Dewals, Kymo Slager, Annegret H. Thieken, Jan Verkade, Patrick Willems, and Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-828, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-828, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS).
Short summary
Short summary
In July 2021, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and Belgium were hit by an extreme flood event with over 200 fatalities. Our study provides, for the first time, critical insights into the operational flood early-warning systems in this entire region. Based on 13 expert interviews, we conclude that the systems strongly improved in all countries. Interviewees stressed the need for operational impact-based forecasts, but emphasized that its operational implementation is challenging.
Sarah Lindenlaub, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, and Annegret Thieken
Abstr. Int. Cartogr. Assoc., 9, 22, https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-9-22-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-9-22-2025, 2025
Natalie Lützow, Bretwood Higman, Martin Truffer, Bodo Bookhagen, Friedrich Knuth, Oliver Korup, Katie E. Hughes, Marten Geertsema, John J. Clague, and Georg Veh
The Cryosphere, 19, 1085–1102, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1085-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1085-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
As the atmosphere warms, thinning glacier dams impound smaller lakes at their margins. Yet, some lakes deviate from this trend and have instead grown over time, increasing the risk of glacier floods to downstream populations and infrastructure. In this article, we examine the mechanisms behind the growth of an ice-dammed lake in Alaska. We find that the growth in size and outburst volumes is more controlled by glacier front downwaste than by overall mass loss over the entire glacier surface.
Oliver Korup, Lisa V. Luna, and Joaquin V. Ferrer
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3815–3832, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3815-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3815-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Catalogues of mapped landslides are useful for learning and forecasting how frequently they occur in relation to their size. Yet, rare and large landslides remain mostly uncertain in statistical summaries of these catalogues. We propose a single, consistent method of comparing across different data sources and find that landslide statistics disclose more about subjective mapping choices than trigger types or environmental settings.
Amalie Skålevåg, Oliver Korup, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4771–4796, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4771-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4771-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a cluster-based approach for inferring sediment discharge event types from suspended sediment concentration and streamflow. Applying it to a glacierised catchment, we find event magnitude and shape complexity to be the key characteristics separating event types, while hysteresis is less important. The four event types are attributed to compound rainfall–melt extremes, high snowmelt and glacier melt, freeze–thaw-modulated snow-melt and precipitation, and late-season glacier melt.
Cassiano Bastos Moroz and Annegret H. Thieken
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3299–3314, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3299-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3299-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate the influence of urban processes on the impacts of the 2023 disaster that hit the North Coast of São Paulo, Brazil. The impacts of the disaster were largely associated with rapid urban expansion over the last 3 decades, with a recent occupation of risky areas. Moreover, lower-income neighborhoods were considerably more severely impacted, which evidences their increased exposure to such events. These results highlight the strong association between disaster risk and urban poverty.
Marie-Luise Zenker, Philip Bubeck, and Annegret H. Thieken
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2837–2856, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2837-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2837-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Despite the visible flood damage, mental health is a growing concern. Yet, there is limited data in Germany on mental health impacts after floods. A survey in a heavily affected region revealed that 28 % of respondents showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder 1 year later. Risk factors include gender, serious injury or illness due to flooding, and feeling left alone to cope with impacts. The study highlights the need for tailored mental health support for flood-affected populations.
Annette I. Patton, Lisa V. Luna, Joshua J. Roering, Aaron Jacobs, Oliver Korup, and Benjamin B. Mirus
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3261–3284, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3261-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3261-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Landslide warning systems often use statistical models to predict landslides based on rainfall. They are typically trained on large datasets with many landslide occurrences, but in rural areas large datasets may not exist. In this study, we evaluate which statistical model types are best suited to predicting landslides and demonstrate that even a small landslide inventory (five storms) can be used to train useful models for landslide early warning when non-landslide events are also included.
Z. Xiong, D. Stober, M. Krstić, O. Korup, M. I. Arango, H. Li, and M. Werner
ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., X-5-W1-2023, 75–81, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-5-W1-2023-75-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-X-5-W1-2023-75-2023, 2023
Heidi Kreibich, Kai Schröter, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Anne F. Van Loon, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Guta Wakbulcho Abeshu, Svetlana Agafonova, Amir AghaKouchak, Hafzullah Aksoy, Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Blanca Aznar, Laila Balkhi, Marlies H. Barendrecht, Sylvain Biancamaria, Liduin Bos-Burgering, Chris Bradley, Yus Budiyono, Wouter Buytaert, Lucinda Capewell, Hayley Carlson, Yonca Cavus, Anaïs Couasnon, Gemma Coxon, Ioannis Daliakopoulos, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Claire Delus, Mathilde Erfurt, Giuseppe Esposito, Didier François, Frédéric Frappart, Jim Freer, Natalia Frolova, Animesh K. Gain, Manolis Grillakis, Jordi Oriol Grima, Diego A. Guzmán, Laurie S. Huning, Monica Ionita, Maxim Kharlamov, Dao Nguyen Khoi, Natalie Kieboom, Maria Kireeva, Aristeidis Koutroulis, Waldo Lavado-Casimiro, Hong-Yi Li, Maria Carmen LLasat, David Macdonald, Johanna Mård, Hannah Mathew-Richards, Andrew McKenzie, Alfonso Mejia, Eduardo Mario Mendiondo, Marjolein Mens, Shifteh Mobini, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Viorica Nagavciuc, Thanh Ngo-Duc, Huynh Thi Thao Nguyen, Pham Thi Thao Nhi, Olga Petrucci, Nguyen Hong Quan, Pere Quintana-Seguí, Saman Razavi, Elena Ridolfi, Jannik Riegel, Md Shibly Sadik, Nivedita Sairam, Elisa Savelli, Alexey Sazonov, Sanjib Sharma, Johanna Sörensen, Felipe Augusto Arguello Souza, Kerstin Stahl, Max Steinhausen, Michael Stoelzle, Wiwiana Szalińska, Qiuhong Tang, Fuqiang Tian, Tamara Tokarczyk, Carolina Tovar, Thi Van Thu Tran, Marjolein H. J. van Huijgevoort, Michelle T. H. van Vliet, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Thorsten Wagener, Yueling Wang, Doris E. Wendt, Elliot Wickham, Long Yang, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, and Philip J. Ward
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2009–2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2009-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2009-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk management. We present a dataset containing data of paired events, i.e. two floods or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The dataset enables comparative analyses and allows detailed context-specific assessments. Additionally, it supports the testing of socio-hydrological models.
Annegret H. Thieken, Philip Bubeck, Anna Heidenreich, Jennifer von Keyserlingk, Lisa Dillenardt, and Antje Otto
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 973–990, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-973-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-973-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In July 2021 intense rainfall caused devastating floods in western Europe with 184 fatalities in the German federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NW) and Rhineland-Palatinate (RP), calling their warning system into question. An online survey revealed that 35 % of respondents from NW and 29 % from RP did not receive any warning. Many of those who were warned did not expect severe flooding, nor did they know how to react. The study provides entry points for improving Germany's warning system.
Alberto Caldas-Alvarez, Markus Augenstein, Georgy Ayzel, Klemens Barfus, Ribu Cherian, Lisa Dillenardt, Felix Fauer, Hendrik Feldmann, Maik Heistermann, Alexia Karwat, Frank Kaspar, Heidi Kreibich, Etor Emanuel Lucio-Eceiza, Edmund P. Meredith, Susanna Mohr, Deborah Niermann, Stephan Pfahl, Florian Ruff, Henning W. Rust, Lukas Schoppa, Thomas Schwitalla, Stella Steidl, Annegret H. Thieken, Jordis S. Tradowsky, Volker Wulfmeyer, and Johannes Quaas
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3701–3724, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3701-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3701-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In a warming climate, extreme precipitation events are becoming more frequent. To advance our knowledge on such phenomena, we present a multidisciplinary analysis of a selected case study that took place on 29 June 2017 in the Berlin metropolitan area. Our analysis provides evidence of the extremeness of the case from the atmospheric and the impacts perspectives as well as new insights on the physical mechanisms of the event at the meteorological and climate scales.
Melanie Fischer, Jana Brettin, Sigrid Roessner, Ariane Walz, Monique Fort, and Oliver Korup
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3105–3123, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3105-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3105-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Nepal’s second-largest city has been rapidly growing since the 1970s, although its valley has been affected by rare, catastrophic floods in recent and historic times. We analyse potential impacts of such floods on urban areas and infrastructure by modelling 10 physically plausible flood scenarios along Pokhara’s main river. We find that hydraulic effects would largely affect a number of squatter settlements, which have expanded rapidly towards the river by a factor of up to 20 since 2008.
Adam Emmer, Simon K. Allen, Mark Carey, Holger Frey, Christian Huggel, Oliver Korup, Martin Mergili, Ashim Sattar, Georg Veh, Thomas Y. Chen, Simon J. Cook, Mariana Correas-Gonzalez, Soumik Das, Alejandro Diaz Moreno, Fabian Drenkhan, Melanie Fischer, Walter W. Immerzeel, Eñaut Izagirre, Ramesh Chandra Joshi, Ioannis Kougkoulos, Riamsara Kuyakanon Knapp, Dongfeng Li, Ulfat Majeed, Stephanie Matti, Holly Moulton, Faezeh Nick, Valentine Piroton, Irfan Rashid, Masoom Reza, Anderson Ribeiro de Figueiredo, Christian Riveros, Finu Shrestha, Milan Shrestha, Jakob Steiner, Noah Walker-Crawford, Joanne L. Wood, and Jacob C. Yde
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3041–3061, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3041-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3041-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have attracted increased research attention recently. In this work, we review GLOF research papers published between 2017 and 2021 and complement the analysis with research community insights gained from the 2021 GLOF conference we organized. The transdisciplinary character of the conference together with broad geographical coverage allowed us to identify progress, trends and challenges in GLOF research and outline future research needs and directions.
Michael Dietze, Rainer Bell, Ugur Ozturk, Kristen L. Cook, Christoff Andermann, Alexander R. Beer, Bodo Damm, Ana Lucia, Felix S. Fauer, Katrin M. Nissen, Tobias Sieg, and Annegret H. Thieken
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1845–1856, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1845-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1845-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The flood that hit Europe in July 2021, specifically the Eifel, Germany, was more than a lot of fast-flowing water. The heavy rain that fell during the 3 d before also caused the slope to fail, recruited tree trunks that clogged bridges, and routed debris across the landscape. Especially in the upper parts of the catchments the flood was able to gain momentum. Here, we discuss how different landscape elements interacted and highlight the challenges of holistic future flood anticipation.
Annegret H. Thieken, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Heidi Kreibich, and Meike Müller
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 165–185, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-165-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-165-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Various floods hit Germany recently. While there was a river flood with some dike breaches in 2013, flooding in 2016 resulted directly from heavy rainfall, causing overflowing drainage systems in urban areas and destructive flash floods in steep catchments. Based on survey data, we analysed how residents coped with these different floods. We observed significantly different flood impacts, warnings, behaviour and recovery, offering entry points for tailored risk communication and support.
Melanie Fischer, Oliver Korup, Georg Veh, and Ariane Walz
The Cryosphere, 15, 4145–4163, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4145-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4145-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in the greater Himalayan region threaten local communities and infrastructure. We assess this hazard objectively using fully data-driven models. We find that lake and catchment area, as well as regional glacier-mass balance, credibly raised the susceptibility of a glacial lake in our study area to produce a sudden outburst. However, our models hardly support the widely held notion that rapid lake growth increases GLOF susceptibility.
Daniela Molinari, Anna Rita Scorzini, Chiara Arrighi, Francesca Carisi, Fabio Castelli, Alessio Domeneghetti, Alice Gallazzi, Marta Galliani, Frédéric Grelot, Patric Kellermann, Heidi Kreibich, Guilherme S. Mohor, Markus Mosimann, Stephanie Natho, Claire Richert, Kai Schroeter, Annegret H. Thieken, Andreas Paul Zischg, and Francesco Ballio
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2997–3017, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2997-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2997-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Flood risk management requires a realistic estimation of flood losses. However, the capacity of available flood damage models to depict real damages is questionable. With a joint effort of eight research groups, the objective of this study was to compare the performances of nine models for the estimation of flood damage to buildings. The comparison provided more objective insights on the transferability of the models and on the reliability of their estimations.
Patric Kellermann, Kai Schröter, Annegret H. Thieken, Sören-Nils Haubrock, and Heidi Kreibich
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2503–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2503-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2503-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
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. This paper presents HOWAS 21 and highlights exemplary analyses to demonstrate the use of HOWAS 21 flood damage data.
Cited articles
Amadio, M., Scorzini, A. R., Carisi, F., Essenfelder, A. H., Domeneghetti, A., Mysiak, J., and Castellarin, A.: Testing empirical and synthetic flood damage models: the case of Italy, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 661–678, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-661-2019, 2019. a
Bernet, D. B., Prasuhn, V., and Weingartner, R.: Surface water floods in Switzerland: what insurance claim records tell us about the damage in space and time, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1659–1682, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1659-2017, 2017. a
Bubeck, P., Berghäuser, L., Hudson, P., and Thieken, A. H.: Using Panel
Data to Understand the Dynamics of Human Behavior in Response to Flooding,
Risk Anal., 40, 2340–2359, https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13548, 2020. a
Cammerer, H., Thieken, A. H., and Lammel, J.: Adaptability and transferability of flood loss functions in residential areas, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 3063–3081, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-3063-2013, 2013. a
Carpenter, B., Gelman, A., Hoffman, M. D., Lee, D., Goodrich, B., Betancourt,
M., Brubaker, M., Guo, J., Li, P., and Riddell, A.: Stan: A Probabilistic
Programming Language, J. Stat. Softw., 76, 1–32,
https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v076.i01, 2017. a
Evans, M., Hastings, N., and Peacock, B.: Statistical Distributions, Wiley
Series in Probability and Statistics, 3rd Edition, Wiley, New York, 221 pp., 2000. a
Figueiredo, R., Schröter, K., Weiss-Motz, A., Martina, M. L. V., and Kreibich, H.: Multi-model ensembles for assessment of flood losses and associated uncertainty, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 1297–1314, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-1297-2018, 2018. a, b
Fuchs, S., Heiser, M., Schlögl, M., Zischg, A., Papathoma-Köhle, M.,
and Keiler, M.: Short communication: A model to predict flood loss in
mountain areas, Environ. Modell. Softw., 117, 176–180,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.03.026, 2019. a
Gabry, J., Simpson, D., Vehtari, A., Betancourt, M., and Gelman, A.:
Visualization in Bayesian workflow, J. Roy. Stat. Soc. A Sta., 182, 389–402, https://doi.org/10.1111/rssa.12378, 2019. a, b
GDV: Naturgefahrenreport 2018: Die Schaden-Chronik der deutschen Versicherer,
Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft (GDV), Germany, 56 pp., 2018. a
Gelman, A. and Hill, J.: Data analysis using regression and
multilevel/hierarchical models, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 625 pp., 2007. a
Gelman, A., Vehtari, A., Simpson, D., Margossian, D., Carpenter, B., Yao, Y.,
Kennedy, L., Gabry, J., Bürkner, P., and Modrák, M.: Bayesian
Workflow, available at: https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/11/10/bayesian-workflow/, last access: 9 December 2020. a
Gerl, T., Kreibich, H., Franco, G., Marechal, D., and Schröter, K.: A
Review of Flood Loss Models as Basis for Harmonization and Benchmarking,
PloS One, 11, e0159791, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159791, 2016. a, b, c, d
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences: HOWAS 21, https://doi.org/10.1594/GFZ.SDDB.HOWAS21, 2021. a
Gradeci, K., Labonnote, N., Sivertsen, E., and Time, B.: The use of insurance
data in the analysis of Surface Water Flood events – A systematic review,
J. Hydrol., 568, 194–206, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.10.060, 2019. a
Hudson, P., Botzen, W. J. W., Kreibich, H., Bubeck, P., and Aerts, J. C. J. H.: Evaluating the effectiveness of flood damage mitigation measures by the application of propensity score matching, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1731–1747, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1731-2014, 2014. a
Jongman, B., Kreibich, H., Apel, H., Barredo, J. I., Bates, P. D., Feyen, L., Gericke, A., Neal, J., Aerts, J. C. J. H., and Ward, P. J.: Comparative flood damage model assessment: towards a European approach, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 12, 3733–3752, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-12-3733-2012, 2012. a
Kellermann, P., Schröter, K., Thieken, A. H., Haubrock, S.-N., and Kreibich, H.: The object-specific flood damage database HOWAS 21, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2503–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2503-2020, 2020. a
Kienzler, S., Pech, I., Kreibich, H., Müller, M., and Thieken, A. H.: After the extreme flood in 2002: changes in preparedness, response and recovery of flood-affected residents in Germany between 2005 and 2011, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 505–526, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-505-2015, 2015. a, b, c, d, e
Kreibich, H., Thieken, A. H., Petrow, Th., Müller, M., and Merz, B.: Flood loss reduction of private households due to building precautionary measures – lessons learned from the Elbe flood in August 2002, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 5, 117–126, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-5-117-2005, 2005. a
Kron, W.: Flood Risk = Hazard × Values × Vulnerability, Water Int., 30, 58–68, https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060508691837, 2005. a
Merz, B., Kreibich, H., Schwarze, R., and Thieken, A.: Review article “Assessment of economic flood damage”, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 10, 1697–1724, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-10-1697-2010, 2010. a
Meyer, V., Becker, N., Markantonis, V., Schwarze, R., van den Bergh, J. C. J. M., Bouwer, L. M., Bubeck, P., Ciavola, P., Genovese, E., Green, C., Hallegatte, S., Kreibich, H., Lequeux, Q., Logar, I., Papyrakis, E., Pfurtscheller, C., Poussin, J., Przyluski, V., Thieken, A. H., and Viavattene, C.: Review article: Assessing the costs of natural hazards – state of the art and knowledge gaps, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 1351–1373, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-1351-2013, 2013. a, b, c, d
Molinari, D., Scorzini, A. R., Arrighi, C., Carisi, F., Castelli, F., Domeneghetti, A., Gallazzi, A., Galliani, M., Grelot, F., Kellermann, P., Kreibich, H., Mohor, G. S., Mosimann, M., Natho, S., Richert, C., Schroeter, K., Thieken, A. H., Zischg, A. P., and Ballio, F.: Are flood damage models converging to “reality”? Lessons learnt from a blind test, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2997–3017, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2997-2020, 2020. a, b
Penning-Rowsell, E. C.: The benefits of flood and coastal risk management: A
handbook of assessment techniques, Middlesex University Press, London, UK, 81 pp., 2005. a
R Core Team: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, Version 4.0.1, available at: https://www.R-project.org/, last access: 5 July 2020. a
Rözer, V., Kreibich, H., Schröter, K., Müller, M., Sairam, N.,
Doss-Gollin, J., Lall, U., and Merz, B.: Probabilistic Models Significantly
Reduce Uncertainty in Hurricane Harvey Pluvial Flood Loss Estimates,
Earth's Future, 7, 384–394, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF001074, 2019. a
Sairam, N., Schröter, K., Rözer, V., Merz, B., and Kreibich, H.:
Hierarchical Bayesian Approach for Modeling Spatiotemporal Variability in
Flood Damage Processes, Water Resour. Res., 55, 8223–8237,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR025068, 2019. a, b, c, d
Sairam, N., Schröter, K., Carisi, F., Wagenaar, D., Domeneghetti, A.,
Molinari, D., Brill, F., Priest, S., Viavattene, C., Merz, B., and Kreibich,
H.: Bayesian Data-Driven approach enhances synthetic flood loss models,
Environ. Modell. Softw., 132, 104798,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104798, 2020. a
Schröter, K., Kreibich, H., Vogel, K., Riggelsen, C., Scherbaum, F., and
Merz, B.: How useful are complex flood damage models?, Water Resour. Res., 50, 3378–3395, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013WR014396, 2014. a
Schröter, K., Kunz, M., Elmer, F., Mühr, B., and Merz, B.: What made the June 2013 flood in Germany an exceptional event? A hydro-meteorological evaluation, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 309–327, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-309-2015, 2015. a
Spekkers, M. H., Kok, M., Clemens, F. H. L. R., and ten Veldhuis, J. A. E.: Decision-tree analysis of factors influencing rainfall-related building structure and content damage, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 2531–2547, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-2531-2014, 2014. a
Surminski, S. and Thieken, A. H.: Promoting flood risk reduction: The role of
insurance in Germany and England, Earth's Future, 5, 979–1001,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000587, 2017. a
Thieken, A.: Contributions of flood insurance to enhance resilience-findings
from Germany, in: Urban Disaster Resilience and Security, edited
by: Fekete, A. and Fiedrich, F., Springer International Publishing, Cham,
Switzerland, 129–144, 2018. a
Thieken, A. H., Müller, M., Kreibich, H., and Merz, B.: Flood damage and
influencing factors: New insights from the August 2002 flood in Germany,
Water Resour. Res., 41, W12430, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005WR004177, 2005. a, b, c
Thieken, A. H., Kreibich, H., Müller, M., and Merz, B.: Coping with floods: Preparedness, response and recovery of flood-affected residents in Germany in 2002, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 52, 1016–1037,
https://doi.org/10.1623/hysj.52.5.1016, 2007. a, b
Thieken, A. H., Bessel, T., Kienzler, S., Kreibich, H., Müller, M., Pisi, S., and Schröter, K.: The flood of June 2013 in Germany: how much do we know about its impacts?, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 1519–1540, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-1519-2016, 2016. a, b, c
Thieken, A. H., Kreibich, H., Müller, M., and Lamond, J.: Data Collection
for a Better Understanding of What Causes Flood Damage – Experiences with
Telephone Surveys, in: Flood damage survey and assessment: New
insights from research and practice, edited by: Molinari, D., Ballio, F., and
Menoni, S., Geophysical monograph, Wiley and American
Geophysical Union, Hoboken, New Jersey and Washingston, D.C, USA, 95–106, 2017. a, b, c
Vehtari, A.: Cross-validation FAQ, available at:
https://avehtari.github.io/modelselection/CV-FAQ.html (last access: 24 January 2021), 2020. a
Vehtari, A., Gelman, A., and Gabry, J.: Practical Bayesian model evaluation
using leave-one-out cross-validation and WAIC, Stat. Comput., 27,
1413–1432, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11222-016-9696-4, 2017. a, b
Vehtari, V., Gabry, J., Magnusson, M., Yao, Y., and Gelman, A.: loo: Efficient leave-one-out cross-validation and WAIC for Bayesian models, R package version 2.2.0, available at: https://mc-stan.org/loo (last access: 5 July 2020), 2019. a
Wagenaar, D., Lüdtke, S., Schröter, K., Bouwer, L. M., and Kreibich,
H.: Regional and Temporal Transferability of Multivariable Flood Damage
Models, Water Resour. Res., 54, 3688–3703, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017WR022233,
2018. a, b
Zscheischler, J., Martius, O., Westra, S., Bevacqua, E., Raymond, C., Horton,
R. M., van den Hurk, B., AghaKouchak, A., Jézéquel, A., Mahecha,
M. D., Maraun, D., Ramos, A. M., Ridder, N. N., Thiery, W., and Vignotto, E.:
A typology of compound weather and climate events, Nature Reviews Earth &
Environment, 1, 333–347, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0060-z, 2020. a
Short summary
We explored differences in the damaging process across different flood types, regions within Germany, and six flood events through a numerical model in which the groups can learn from each other. Differences were found mostly across flood types, indicating the importance of identifying them, but there is great overlap across regions and flood events, indicating either that socioeconomic or temporal information was not well represented or that they are in fact less different within our cases.
We explored differences in the damaging process across different flood types, regions within...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint