Abstract :
[en] The EU Floods Directive mandates all member states to conduct periodic flood hazard and risk assessments. However, the approaches to economic damage assessments differ across the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. The three countries—Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium—utilize distinct damage models, resulting in significant variations in calculated economic damages. Flood damage models are crucial for determining flood risk and gaining insights into the cost-benefit efficiency of measures. We have seen in the three countries that relative simple, semi-quantitative, approaches are employed to estimate potential flood damage at regional levels. To analyze the diverse methods used in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, survey data from the July 2021 event is collected and used to compare model results. Various perspectives are compared to identify areas where model improvements can be made. In this research, a recently adapted model for the Walloon region is analyzed. Unfortunately, it is very rare that extensive and consistent flood damage data are collected transnationally, mainly because private insurance companies are not able to share the data on individual objects. Hence, it is difficult to use and analyze various damage models with a large dataset. However, this research demonstrates the value and effectiveness of comparing damage models for different locations and in combination with different models, potentially leading to model improvements by leveraging the strengths of others. The overall trend in current damage models raises the question of whether a more detailed model leads to a better model performance. Since damage depends on many factors that are challenging to collect, one can argue that assessing the damage of a region as accurately as possible involves using models that estimate average damage effectively. This implies that local details should only be used if corresponding data are available and reliable; otherwise, there is a risk that details may not add value. The focus of this research is directed toward damages to buildings, including the aspects of household content damages. This means that the results of this research are specific to this part of the damage models; conclusions can differ in other categories of the models. By concentrating on building damage, a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of this type of damage is obtained.
