During the first two weeks of August 2010 several locations in Denmark have been hit by very heavy and high intensity rain events with subsequent severe flooding. The rainfall intensities did by far exceed the Danish design standards. This has also been the case in the area of the Municipality of Greve where more than 100 mm rain were recorded in just a few days. With the right knowledge available and with highly dedicated staff, Greve managed to handle these heavy rainfall events, with only minor damages.
The Municipality of Greve is characterized by being a flat and low lying coastal area. Hence being exposed to both increasing rainfall intensities and sea level rise due to climate changes. Following severe flooding of houses and infrastructure in 2002 and 2007, the municipality launched a strategic project to implement climate change adaptation measures and develop emergency plans. Read about the project here and here. The Municipality of Greve has used DHI Software to develop the analyses of climate change impacts on flooding and DHIs has implemented a real time data collection and data management system (DIMS), which always provides a real-time state-of-the art picture of rainfall, flow and water levels in the urban drainage system.
The DHI software enables the municipality to analyse new options in offline mode and during heavy rain the measurements in DIMS provides detailed information about where the water is in the system – and hence provides the basis for the decisions of how the staff operates the drainage system.
The heavy rains during the first two weeks of August 2010 have been serious events testing the real-time operation of the climate change adaptation measures and the contingency plans in Greve. The conclusion is clear: Greve has all the time had a complete overview of the situation, and controlled the flow, so flood damages have been very limited. Further, during the critical stages of the heavy rainfall events the citizens have received updated information through web sites or sms.
The decision to strategically carry out climate change adaptation now really pays off for the Municipality of Greve. DHI wants to congratulatulate Greve with the impressive and convincing results!
News from TV2 Lorry (In Danish)