Climate change is increasingly leading to extreme weather conditions. Storms with heavy rainfall have become more frequent in recent years. These are increasingly leading to flooding, not only in streams and rivers, but also in residential areas in the city where the water cannot drain away quickly enough.
Heavy rainfall refers to very large amounts of precipitation that fall within a short period of time. Due to the warming of the atmosphere as a result of climate change, more water vapor can be stored - which also increases the likelihood of particularly intense rainfall.
If there is also a so-called blocking weather situation, in which high and low pressure areas remain almost stationary for several days, extreme events can last for a long time.
The German Weather Service (DWD) classifies heavy rain according to intensity:
Warning event | Threshold value | Icon | Level |
Heavy rain | 15 to 25 l/m² in 1 hour |
| 2 |
Heavy rain | 25-40 l/m² in 1 hour |
| 3 |
Extremely heavy rain | > 40 l/m² in 1 hour |
| 4 |
Heavy rain can occur anywhere - regardless of the geographical location. Evaluations by the DWD show that events with heavy rainfall of short duration were observed in almost all regions of Germany between 2011 and 2016.
Possible dangers
Individual heavy rainfall events are usually very limited in terms of space and time. Floods, on the other hand, cause much more extensive and long-term damage to the affected population and the economy.
In heavily sealed areas such as urban agglomerations, the risk of flooding due to heavy rainfall is particularly high. The water cannot seep away there and flows off superficially when the sewer system is overloaded. Along streams and rivers, the additional inflow of water also increases the risk of flooding. Possible consequences include the destruction of existing infrastructure. In particularly extreme cases, there is also a great danger to human life.
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