Public information event in Upper Lusatia, Germany
On Wednesday, April 10th, the RAINMAN team from Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology invited private persons and other local stakeholders (municipality staff, farmers, volunteer fire-fighters) to an information and exchange event to the local school hall in Oderwitz. More than 50 persons accepted the invitation and attended to the event.
Impressions from the public event (photo credit: Alfred Olfert, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development)
In the first part of the event, the RAINMAN team (Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology) supported by the lower water authortity recollected the most recent flash flood events in this area and informed about pluvial flood risk management itsself and the current state of work of the local administration with respect to damage repair and the implementation of a local pluvial flood risk management plan. Furthermore, the RAINMAN partner Leibniz Institute for Ecological Urban and Regional Development presented the latest results of their risk analysis activities and building experts from Dresden informed about protection measures on private buildings.
After the information dominance in the first part, the second part was planned to be interactive. The RAINMAN team split up in three groups and discussed with private persons about protection on private buildings, with firemen about early warning and emergency response and with citizens and farmers about water retention and erosion on agricultural areas.
The RAINMAN team was very impressed with the local knowledge and already implemented measures. The discussions have been very clear and gave us valuable insights in the area of tension in which local communities have to work. We thank all participants for their time and input and will stay in contact to exchange further project results.
