Flood forecasts for NRW are to be improved
Created: 2022-01-20 15:02
Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU), Environment Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, speaks.
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
As a consequence of the devastating flood disaster with many deaths, flood protection for the population in North Rhine-Westphalia is to be improved.
In this way, authorities should be able to provide more comprehensible and earlier information about future heavy rain events with more precise forecasts.
NRW Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) presented a ten-point work plan on Thursday.
Düsseldorf - As a result, flood forecast systems for as many bodies of water in NRW as possible - especially for smaller ones - should be introduced.
Heinen-Esser said test operations should start on twelve rivers in the spring.
In the future, the reporting channels of the authorities for information on floods are to be uniformly regulated by a state ordinance.
Another aim is to make the reports from meteorologists and hydrologists easier to understand.
So far, there have been different reporting chains for individual areas in NRW.
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In addition - as a lesson from the flood of the century last year - the flood hazard maps are to be revised.
In NRW, 438 bodies of water with a total length of almost 5,900 kilometers are classified as risky bodies of water.
In total, there are watercourses in NRW with a total length of more than 14,000 kilometers.
In storms with unusually heavy rainfall in mid-July 2021, 49 people died in NRW alone.
According to initial estimates, damage amounted to around 13 billion euros.
A committee of inquiry set up by the state parliament is currently examining possible failures, omissions and misjudgments by the state government.
It is also about the question of whether people could have been warned earlier.
dpa
