The flood in July 2021 has led to an extreme impact on the rivers Erft, Inde, Vichtbach and Wupper in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and on the river Ahr in Rhineland-Palatinate (RLP). KAHR accompanies the (re)construction process and makes a scientific contribution to flood risk management after the flood disaster in order to make affected regions more resilient.

In the model areas of the project, the respective phases within the reconstruction process are identified and actors are advised. The aim is to create demonstration projects, raise awareness of risk and deficits, further develop evaluation criteria for individual measures and improve the feasibility and acceptance of these.

Specific measures planned are:

• A revision of flood hazard maps and a re-evaluation of the orientation towards rigid probabilities of occurrence as well as the review of concrete measures based on different scenarios
• The further development of flood/severe rainfall risk concepts
• Accompanying a resilient reconstruction of critical infrastructures and increasing the protection targets for selected particularly critical infrastructures
• Presenting opportunities and barriers for resilient reconstruction and innovation
• Analyzing decision-making processes in reconstruction and cooperation and dependency at different levels
• Advising and motivating stakeholders and responsible parties so that new innovative concepts and solutions are also tested, as well as on-site consultations on selected topics