Das Hochwasser an Ahr und Erft 2021: Entstehung, Ausprägung und Folgen

The Ahr and Erft floods of 2021: origin, characteristics and consequences: In July 2021, Germany and in particular the federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were hit by the worst flooding events since the Hamburg storm surge of 1962. Over 180 people lost their lives, and many villages and cites are still scarred by the destruction several years after the disaster. In just 24 hours, beginning on the evening of July 13, 2021, at some stations of the German Meteorological Service rainfall was twice as high as the rainfall for an average July. According to studies by Trenczek et al. 2022a, based on official data from the German government, the flooding caused damage of over €40 billion in Germany alone, making it the costliest single event in post-war history in Germany. In a chronicle of the extreme weather damages that have occurred in Germany since 2000 compiled by Trenczek et al. (2022b), the July 2021 flood is responsible for over a quarter of all damages (including heat and drought events) and, adjusted for inflation, is around two times more costly than the Elbe flood in 2002.