Flood precaution and coping with floods of companies in Germany

During August 2002 and again in April 2006 the Elbe catchment was hit by floods. The flood in 2002 was an extreme event, e.g. with a return period of 150 years at the Dresden gauge. In comparison, the 2006 flood had only a return period of about 15 years at Dresden. This special situation enables a comparison of the preparedness of companies in the flood endangered federal state of Saxony after a long period of relatively low flood discharges and in 2006 just a few years after a severe flood event. Before August 2002, the flood risk awareness and flood preparedness of companies in Saxony was low. Only 25% of the companies had flood experience before August 2002 and for instance, only 12% of the companies had used their flood prone stories and areas in a flood adapted way. After 2002, many companies were motivated to undertake precautionary measures. On average, the percentage of companies which had undertaken different building precautionary measures was doubled in 2006. Additionally, the percentage of companies which had undertaken emergency measures before and during the flood events has increased from 67% in 2002 to 91% in 2006. It is an important challenge for the future to keep preparedness at a high level also without recurrent flood experiences.