Articles | Volume 24, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2633-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2633-2024
Research article
 | 
01 Aug 2024
Research article |  | 01 Aug 2024

Surprise floods: the role of our imagination in preparing for disasters

Joy Ommer, Jessica Neumann, Milan Kalas, Sophie Blackburn, and Hannah L. Cloke

Related authors

Turning regret into future disaster preparedness with no-regrets
Joy Ommer, Milan Kalas, Jessica Neumann, Sophie Blackburn, and Hannah L. Cloke
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1186,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1186, 2024
Short summary

Related subject area

Atmospheric, Meteorological and Climatological Hazards
Evaluation of machine learning approaches for large-scale agricultural drought forecasts to improve monitoring and preparedness in Brazil
Joseph W. Gallear, Marcelo Valadares Galdos, Marcelo Zeri, and Andrew Hartley
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1521–1541, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1521-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1521-2025, 2025
Short summary
Soil moisture–atmosphere coupling strength over central Europe in the recent warming climate
Thomas Schwitalla, Lisa Jach, Volker Wulfmeyer, and Kirsten Warrach-Sagi
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1405–1424, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1405-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1405-2025, 2025
Short summary
A data-driven framework for assessing climatic impact drivers in the context of food security
Marcos Roberto Benso, Roberto Fray Silva, Gabriela Chiquito Gesualdo, Antonio Mauro Saraiva, Alexandre Cláudio Botazzo Delbem, Patricia Angélica Alves Marques, José Antonio Marengo, and Eduardo Mario Mendiondo
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1387–1404, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1387-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1387-2025, 2025
Short summary
Soil conditioner mixtures as an agricultural management alternative to mitigate drought impacts: a proof of concept
Juan F. Dueñas, Edda Kunze, Huiying Li, and Matthias C. Rillig
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1377–1386, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1377-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1377-2025, 2025
Short summary
Compound winter low-wind and cold events impacting the French electricity system: observed evolution and role of large-scale circulation
François Collet, Margot Bador, Julien Boé, Laurent Dubus, and Bénédicte Jourdier
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 843–856, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-843-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-843-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Ali, A., Rana, I. A., Ali, A., and Najam, F. A.: Flood risk perception and communication: The role of hazard proximity, J. Environ. Manage., 316, 115309, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115309, 2022. 
Apel, H., Vorogushyn, S., and Merz, B.: Brief communication: Impact forecasting could substantially improve the emergency management of deadly floods: case study July 2021 floods in Germany, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3005–3014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3005-2022, 2022. 
Bakhtiari, V., Piadeh, F., Chen, A. S., and Behzadian, K.: Stakeholder analysis in the application of cutting-edge digital visualisation technologies for urban flood risk management: A critical review, Expert Syst. Appl., 236, 121426, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2023.121426, 2024. 
Balog-Way, D., McComas, K., and Besley, J.: The Evolving Field of Risk Communication, Risk Anal., 40, 2240–2262, https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13615, 2020. 
Bø, S. and Wolff, K.: I Can See Clearly Now: Episodic Future Thinking and Imaginability in Perceptions of Climate-Related Risk Events, Front. Psychol., 11, 218, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00218, 2020. 
Download
Short summary
What’s the worst that could happen? Recent floods are often claimed to be beyond our imagination. Imagination is the picturing of a situation in our mind and the emotions that we connect with this situation. But why is this important for disasters? This survey found that when we cannot imagine a devastating flood, we are not preparing in advance. Severe-weather forecasts and warnings need to advance in order to trigger our imagination of what might happen and enable us to start preparing.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint