Munich (dpa / lby) – The Bavarian municipal council wants to involve property owners and agriculture more closely in heavy rain protection. “Everyone has to understand that they have to do something themselves on their building,” said community day water expert Juliane Thimet on radio station Bayern 2 on Tuesday morning. Agriculture must also recognize how important soil is as a retention area.
A study presented on Monday came to the conclusion that Germany’s cities and communities are ill-prepared for the increasingly frequent flash floods after severe thunderstorms. Thimet said: “The topic is new. Our weather situation has changed fundamentally in the last twenty years.”
Thimet thinks that hazard maps, with the help of which citizens can find out about potential dangers in their residential area, are a good idea. But that wasn’t enough, she said. “We don’t want any bureaucracy where a card comes out at the end and nobody knows what’s going to happen next.”
Concrete measures must follow from the maps, said Thimet. For example, owners would have to take care of appropriate insurance cover for their building. In addition, densifications in the municipalities are a danger. Because if every free area is sealed, precipitation could not seep away on site.
