14 Mar 2025
| 14 Mar 2025
Real time application for estimation of urban pluvial flood damage
Sarah Lindenlaub
Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, Germany
Guilherme Samprogna Mohor
Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, Germany
Annegret Thieken
Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, Germany
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Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Sarah Lindenlaub, and Annegret H. Thieken
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3462, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3462, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS).
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Here we present the Flood Damage Estimation Tool FlooDEsT, an algorithm for estimating flood damage caused by pluvial floods or surface water flooding. The tool is flexible in handling missing data. Once a hazard map is available, the application can provide damage estimates for a thousand buildings within seconds because geographical information and computational tools were optimised. This meets the demands for rapid impact assessments in the context of early warning.
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Surface sealing makes cities vulnerable to flooding caused by heavy rain. Green infrastructure, such as green roofs, can reduce flooding. This modelling study investigates the potential of green infrastructure to reduce runoff, flood water depth and building damage. Bioretention systems turned out to be the most space efficient compared to green roofs and pervious pavement. For larger rain events, more green infrastructure implementation is needed to achieve relevant flood mitigation.
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3462, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3462, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS).
Short summary
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Here we present the Flood Damage Estimation Tool FlooDEsT, an algorithm for estimating flood damage caused by pluvial floods or surface water flooding. The tool is flexible in handling missing data. Once a hazard map is available, the application can provide damage estimates for a thousand buildings within seconds because geographical information and computational tools were optimised. This meets the demands for rapid impact assessments in the context of early warning.
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Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 3041–3060, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3041-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3041-2026, 2026
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Surface sealing makes cities vulnerable to flooding caused by heavy rain. Green infrastructure, such as green roofs, can reduce flooding. This modelling study investigates the potential of green infrastructure to reduce runoff, flood water depth and building damage. Bioretention systems turned out to be the most space efficient compared to green roofs and pervious pavement. For larger rain events, more green infrastructure implementation is needed to achieve relevant flood mitigation.
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Annegret H. Thieken, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Heidi Kreibich, and Meike Müller
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 165–185, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-165-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-165-2022, 2022
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Various floods hit Germany recently. While there was a river flood with some dike breaches in 2013, flooding in 2016 resulted directly from heavy rainfall, causing overflowing drainage systems in urban areas and destructive flash floods in steep catchments. Based on survey data, we analysed how residents coped with these different floods. We observed significantly different flood impacts, warnings, behaviour and recovery, offering entry points for tailored risk communication and support.
