Reducing the Vulnerability of Societies to Water Related Risks at the Basin Scale (Proceedings of the third International Symposium on Integrated Water Resources Management, Bochum, Germany, September 2006). IAHS Publ. 317, 2007, 384–388.

Main factors influencing the economic flood damage of companies

HEIDI KREIBICH¹, MEIKE MÜLLER², ANNEGRET THIEKEN¹ & BRUNO MERZ¹

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

kreib@gfz-potsdam.de

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

Abstract Flood risk analyses, including damage assessments, are gaining more and more attention in flood risk management. To improve the knowledge about flood damage of companies and damage-influencing factors, 415 companies affected by the severe flood event of the River Elbe and its tributaries in August 2002 were questioned. The mean total damage amounted to 1.1 million €, the median to 0.2 million €, i.e. the mean was dominated by a few companies with very high damage. Flood characteristics, mainly the water level, were causing significant differences of the total flood damage. However, the extreme values of very high damage were mainly influenced by company characteristics. Especially large enterprises with high assets suffered from very high flood damage of more than 2 million €.

Key words damage assessment; enterprises; flood impact; Germany; telephone interviews; vulnerability