Sustainable Water Management Solutions for Large Cities (Proceedings of symposium S2 held during the Seventh IAHS Scientific Assembly at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, April 2005). IAHS Publ. 293, 2005, 164-173

1 GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), Section Engineering Hydrology, Telegrafenberg,
D-14473 Potsdam, Germany

2 Deutsche Rückversicherung AG, Hansaallee 177, D-40549 Düsseldorf, Germany

Abstract During the floods in August 2002, the city of Dresden was the most affected area in Germany. In total, about 15% of the city was flooded, causing tremendous damage. Dresden was hit by floods of streams, the Elbe tributaries Weißeritz and Lockwitzbach, the Elbe River and groundwater. The flood risk awareness and flood preparedness of authorities, households and companies was low. After the floods, the communal authorities in Dresden developed a new flood management concept and many households and companies were motivated to undertake precautionary measures. However, the proportion of people willing to invest in precautionary measures remains lower than in the rural parts of Saxony. Therefore, improved campaigns and financial incentives should be used to further encourage the urban people and companies to implement flood precautionary measures. Additionally, damage mitigation measures have to be maintained and preparedness has to be kept at a high level over time.

Key words Dresden, Germany; flood damage; precautionary measures; preparedness; risk management