Hundreds of thousands of homes in Germany at high risk of flooding – report
Clean Energy Wire
Hundreds of thousands of homes in Germany are at a serious risk of flooding, according to a report by environmental NGO DUH. Across the country, over 320,000 homes could suffer damages from a once-in-a-century flood, which is now likely to happen more often than once every hundred years as a result of climate change, DUH added.
According to the report, 10 out of Germany's 16 states are at a "very high" to "extreme" risk of heavily damaging floods. Bavaria has the most homes in areas at risk - a total of 65,517. The state is followed by Baden-Württemberg (54,593 homes potentially affected) and Rhineland-Palatinate (35,987 homes).
For the assessment, DUH identified areas potentially affected by severe flooding, and the number of residential units in these areas.
DUH called on the states to implement better nature-based flood protection – such as giving more space to streams and rivers, and improving water retention in meadows and wetlands – and to promote deconstruction measures in flood-prone areas. "The federal states are still doing too little to protect the potentially hundreds of thousands of people affected," said DUH head Sascha Müller-Kraenner. DUH criticised the fact that states do not have an overview of flood protection measures in place, and that explicit state funding for these is lacking in all federal states.
For many years, Germany has experienced the effects of climate change in the form of worsening heat waves, droughts, and mild winters. But the alarm bells only started ringing in earnest when floods killed almost 200 people in the country’s worst natural disaster in half a century in July 2021, a catastrophe widely attributed to rising temperatures.
Germany has a national climate adaptation strategy and has set measurable targets to increase the country's resilience against the worst consequences of climate change. There are ongoing discussions on whether to introduce a mandatory insurance for homes located in flood-prone areas.
