Floods are natural events. They occur at different heights and at irregular intervals. There have always been floods, and we have to expect them at any time. The Flood Reporting Service publishes flood forecasts for the Rhineland-Palatinate waters under www.hochwasser-rlp.de.
In order to better protect and prepare ourselves, we need to know how high the water can rise and which areas can be affected. For the larger rivers in the country, flood hazard maps and flood risk maps are available, which show what can happen up to extreme flood events. These are published on the Internet at www.hochwassermanagement.rlp.de. Flooding can occur not only due to the overflow of rivers, but also during heavy thunderstorms on areas where no one expects it. There are no maps for such possible heavy rain events, but there are indications on how to prepare. (www.ibh,rlp.de)
For humans, flooding only becomes a catastrophe with high damage because it has built into the flood-prone areas without regard to the risk. In accordance with current legislation, the Structure and Permit Directorates have established flood plains on the larger rivers in Rhineland-Palatinate, which pronounce prohibitions and commandments for damage reduction, to which everyone must adhere.
In Germany, every person who may be affected by flooding is obliged, within the scope of what is possible and reasonable, to take appropriate precautionary measures to protect against adverse flood consequences and to reduce damage. Only when measures to protect the general public against flooding become necessary, i.e. property damage occurs more frequently to an extraordinary extent for a larger number of those affected, is there an overriding public interest in flood protection. Then the cities and municipalities, the districts and the state are responsible.
But you have to know: Flooding cannot be prevented and there is no absolute flood protection through walls and. Therefore, comprehensive flood prevention is a prerequisite for keeping the damage as low as possible. For this purpose, the flood-free time must be used.
Comprehensive information on flood prevention and flood protection can be found at: