Author(s): M. Oertel; D. B. Bung; A. Schlenkhoff
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: During extreme storm events rainfall up to several hundreds of millimeters could precipitate in Germany/Europe within a few hours. In many cases this limits soil infiltration resulting in high surface runoff. These flash flood (FF) events can principally occur at any time and place. While dedicated counter-measures have been developed during the last decades to improve the management of river floods, FF events have not been given attention in such a great detail. Moreover, due to the very nature of FFs these measures cannot prevent infrastructure from damage. Still, recent projects (e. g. FLOODsite [http: //www. floodsite. net] or URBAS[http: //www. urbanesturzfluten. de]) deal with FFs, predominantly focusing on forecasting methods using satellite and radar data (e.g. Delrieu et al. 2007, Delrieu et al. 2008). Furthermore, real-time guidance for flash flood risk management has been developed (Borga et al. 2008). Usually the investigations are based on various case studies after occurred events (e. g. Borga 2006, Gaume 2006, Miglietta & Regano2008). However, compared to river floods no detailed studies are available on the societal awareness regarding FFs and the necessity of prevention measures. The presented abstract is dealing with this identified research deficit. FF awareness and prevention are two main factors to reduce flood damage in urban regions. Next to general hazard identification processes it is essential to get information on the public's awareness to sensitize flash flood events and to result in effective flash flood prevention as well as management plans.
Year: 2009