Floods in Freising and Dachau: congregations are fighting for protection!

Floods in Freising and Dachau: congregations are fighting for protection!

The citizens experienced a heavy flood: inside of Hohenkammer and Allershausen in early June 2024, when the Glonn stepped over the bank due to extreme rains. The devastated towns in the Freising district as well as Markt Indersdorf and Petershausen in the Dachau district look back on damage that exceeded the dimensions of earlier storms. This uncomfortable memory has now brought together the Munich Water Management Office and the affected municipalities to find ways for better flood prevention. As The Süddeutsche shows a meeting in the Freising district office the beginning of a more intensive cooperation between the counties.

“Complete protection for inhabited areas is not feasible,” notes Stefan Homilius, head of the Munich Water Management Office. Rather, the need for retention basins and private initiatives for flood prevention is essential. The mayor of Allershausen, Martin Vaas, is aware that a community alone cannot deal with these challenges. Suggestions for improvement also come from the Mayor of Indersdorf Markt Franz Obesser, who stimulated to raise two streets in parallel to the Glonn to withstand the water load.

measures for flood prevention

In the course of the considerations for flood prevention, a establishment of a purpose community and a solidarity fund is discussed. These proposals could help the municipalities to react faster and more effectively to flood events. Unfortunately, however, many of the damage caused by the 2024 flood are still not fixed, and there is still a lack of more effective protection infrastructure. District Administrator Helmut Petz, who sees scope for pragmatic solutions and demands creative thinking.

Current climatic developments show that such flood events will occur more frequently. According to Deutschlandfunk , scientists have found that severe rainfall has increased worldwide since the 1950s, which is primarily due to climate change. An increase in temperature by only one degree Celsius means that the air can store about seven percent more moisture. This also has an impact on flood protection.

outlook on future challenges

For rural areas in Bavaria, new challenges for the upcoming flood events could therefore be pending. The cause is not only the heavy rains, but also the sealing of natural areas such as meadows and bogs, which can lead to rainwater no longer seeped away properly. The need for increased flood protection is becoming more and more urgent. The national flood protection program, launched in 2013, is also under observation, while decisions on the constitutional change to the permanent financing of protective measures are discussed.

But what about the implementation of all of these measures? A first record is scheduled for one year, where it will be seen which progress could actually be made.