Record rainfall triggered devastating and deadly flooding in Western Europe between July 14-16th, 2021. The extreme weather event killed more than 230 people in Germany and Belgium and cost billions of dollars in damage. Reconnaissance studies within some of the most affected areas of all three countries, provided insight into geotechnical and geo-structural performance behavior of critical infrastructure elements, such as bridges and road networks. This report presents reconnaissance observations collected between August 9th - August 16th, 2021. The reconnaissance team used terrestrial LIDAR technology, Multispectral imaging, visual observations and cellular photography, as well as UAV imaging and structure for motion modeling to discern critical damage patterns of infrastructure networks and buildings, and to document important erosion and soil relocation patterns along the river courses.
A full report on GEER's investigation of the 2021 Western European Flooding has been published on the GEER website. Additionally, all data collected during the field mission has been made open access on DesignSafe and is available for download.
Citation: Lemnitzer, A., Stark, N., Anoyatis, G., Doornbos, S., Francois, S., Gardner, M., George, M., van Ginkel, K., Leunge, L., Mavritsakis, A., van Marle, M., Mueller, J., Nichols, E., Rattez, H., Schuettrumpf, H., Stamm, J., and Willems, J. (2022). Geotechnical Reconnaissance of the 2021 Western European Floods. Report to the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association, GEER-076, doi:10.18118/G6QH3D
Outreach Video on the Western European Floods (Dutch/English)
Following the intense seismic activity occurring in Cephalonia island, Greece, in January 26th and F...
Useful preliminary findings from the earthquake sequence in central Italy unveiled by an Italy-US GE...
The Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) released a report documenting damage...
The Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association, sponsored by the National Science...
GEER report on "Geotechnical & Flooding Reconnaissance of the 2014 March Flood Event Post 2...
Significant rainfall moved across Central Texas over Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25, 2015, causing...
A preliminary report of the geotechnical reconnaissance of the August 15, 2007 Pisco earthquake is a...
A series of earthquakes struck Kumamoto City, Japan that began with a Mw 6.2 on the Hinagu Fault on...