town hall
Procedure descriptions

Use flood hazard maps

In a bundle of measures, private homeowners' and companies' own precautions play just as important a role as the crisis management of the municipalities and the state's flood forecasting.

In this way, citizens and companies can recognise the extent to which they could be affected by flooding by taking a look at the hazard maps.
This is an important step in the context of self-preparedness.

In Baden-Württemberg, standardised flood hazard maps are produced for over 12,500 kilometres of watercourses across the state.
They show the spatial extent and inundation depths of floods with a high, medium and low probability of occurrence.

The underlying calculations are based on

  • a digital terrain model (DTM) determined by a laser-scanned aerial survey and targeted measurements of the watercourse cross-sections,
  • hydrological data from the regionalisation of the state of Baden-Württemberg or, if available, findings from existing river basin studies,
  • consideration of all hydraulically relevant structures, such as bridges, flood retention basins and other flood protection structures. Previous flood events are also included in the calculations.

During the creation of the maps, the municipalities and districts review the drafts and contribute their experience and local knowledge.
Once finalised, the maps are published by the local authorities and the lower water authorities.
They are also available on the Internet via the online environmental data and map service.
In addition, the flood risk management enquiry service makes it possible to call up the flood depths at one point for the various flood scenarios and all available flood risk management planning information.

Responsible department

the regional councils

Details

Prerequisite

The watercourse you are looking for is part of the watercourse network. This covers around 12,500 kilometres of watercourses in Baden-Württemberg.

Procedure

You can view the flood hazard maps free of charge at

Deadlines

none

Required documents

none

Costs

none

Miscellaneous

The creation of hazard maps is based on the Federal Water Act.

The fact that rivers flow across municipal, state and national borders requires a coordinated approach in order to minimise the risks of flooding on a broad scale.

With flood risk management, Baden-Württemberg is introducing the European Flood Risk Management Directive at state level. This means that legal regulations at European, national and state level go hand in hand.

The areas in which a flood event is statistically expected to occur once every 100 years (HQ100) are regarded as designated floodplains under the state's Water Act (WG) without the need for further designation by statutory order.

Special protection regulations are laid down for these areas in the Federal Water Resources Act (WHG).
The hazard maps show the areas flooded by a HQ100.

Legal basis

Wasserhaushaltsgesetz (WHG) des Bundes

  • § 74 Gefahrenkarten und Risikokarten
  • § 78 Bauliche Schutzvorschriften für festgesetzte Überschwemmungsgebiete

Wassergesetz (WG) des Landes Baden-Württemberg

  • § 65 Überschwemmungsgebiete

Release note

machine generated, based on the German release by: Umweltministerium Baden-Württemberg, 23.05.2024

Contact

Bürger- und Standesamt (Bürgeramt)
Grabenstraße 15
89522 Heidenheim an der Brenz
Fax (0 73 21) 3 23-33 32