Sweco study reveals weak spots in cities´ infrastructure resilience
Report “Expect the unexpected: Floods and critical infrastructure”
Critical infrastructure failures resulting from rainfall-induced floods can pose substantial risks to society, public health, economies, and the environment. In a new report, experts delve into cities’ preparedness to withstand the impact of rainfall-induced floods on critical infrastructure. Sweco examined climate adaptation policies and water management plans from 26 European cities in the light of the new Critical Entities Resilience (CER) directive.
Extreme rainfall has been on the rise in Europe. During the summer of 2021 many record levels were observed in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium causing damages of 38 billion Euro. Further increases in frequency and intensity is expected due to climate change. By 2050, extreme rainfall events are projected to bring approximately 25% more rainfall than they do today.
The EU Joint Research Centre has found that annual damage to Europe’s critical infrastructure could be ten times higher at the end of the century. According to the European Environmental Agency, the average annual weather and climate-related damage in the whole of the EU was 15.9 billion over the period 2011-2020 and is expected to increase.
– To enhance critical infrastructure resilience, we need to delve into asset-level vulnerability, considering factors such as location, construction, and design, says co-author Martijn Steenstra, climate adaptation expert, Sweco Netherlands. We must also acknowledge the interdependence of infrastructure systems and prevent cascade effects through cooperation among cities and authorities managing the infrastructure.
An examination of climate adaptation policies and water management plans from 26 European cities made by Sweco provided a foundation for understanding the existing framework for managing climate risks. Complementing policy analysis and interviews were conducted with city representatives.
The study shows that city assessments predominantly prioritize technical infrastructure over social infrastructure like hospitals, nurseries, and elderly care facilities. 77% of the studied policies mention the electricity sector in relation to rain induced floods, while only 27% of the policies mention not self-reliant groups living in elderly and nursery homes.
Also crisis centres, prisons and banks rarely or never occurred as critical facilities in the climate adaptation and resilience strategies in the studied cities.
– We were surprised to find that only 27% of the studied resilience policies mentioned homes for the elderly and nurseries – housing some of the most vulnerable groups in our societies, says Martijn Steenstra.
The report stresses the need to tackle asset vulnerability together with hazard exposure. Cascade effects are a major concern when critical infrastructure fails due to extreme rainfall, as seen in many of the cases described in the report. Almost none of the 26 cities have studied cascade effects in detail, the report shows.
The main findings from the study are published in our new Urban Insight report “Expect the Unexpected: Floods and Critical Infrastructure”. The report includes a guide describing seven steps for a more resilient infrastructure in cities.
