Flooding

Actions

• Agree a family meeting point on higher groundEssential

  Flood water often rises fastest at night, when your household may be scattered or asleep. Pick a meeting point on higher ground that everyone can reach on foot without crossing water, plus an out-of-area phone contact. Walk the route together, children included, and refresh the plan once a year.

• Keep valuables and chemicals up off the floor

  Anything at floor level in a basement or ground floor is the first loss in a flood. Move electronics, keepsakes and important papers to upper shelves or floors as a habit, not only when a warning comes. Store paints, cleaners and other chemicals high too — mixed into flood water they contaminate your whole home.

Supplies

• Store documents waterproof and as digital copiesEssential

  One soaked cellar can destroy birth certificates, contracts and insurance policies at once. Keep them in a single grab-ready folder in a waterproof container upstairs, never in the basement. Deposit duplicates outside your home and add digital copies — official German guidance advises encrypting scanned IDs.

• Pack a grab bag with water, food and medicinesEssential

  If you must leave quickly, the bag has to be ready before the warning comes. Pack per person for about 72 hours: bottled water, no-cook food, personal medicines, document copies, a torch, a power bank and warm, waterproof clothing. Keep it near the exit, not in the basement, and check the contents twice a year.

• Keep a torch, power bank and battery radio

  Power and networks often fail together in a flood, so plan light and news that need no mains. An LED head torch keeps your hands free; a 20,000 mAh USB-C power bank gives about three phone charges — top it up every 3–6 months. Add a battery or crank radio with FM and DAB+, and store spare batteries outside the devices.

• Get sandbags or flood barriers ready

  Barriers buy time rather than stop a major flood: they can keep low water out of doorways, light wells and air bricks. Sandbags are cheap but need dry-stored sand and time to fill; reusable door barriers deploy faster, so measure your openings first. A backflow valve stops the most common cause of flooded basements.

• Get work gloves and rubber boots for the clean-up

  Flood water leaves behind contaminated mud, splintered wood and broken glass. Sturdy work gloves and rubber boots protect against cuts and infection during the clean-up — official flood guidance recommends both, and any cut sustained in flood dirt should prompt a tetanus check.

• Keep some cash in small notes

  Floods knock out power and networks, and with them ATMs and card terminals. The BBK recommends keeping cash in small notes; a common guide figure is roughly 70–100 euros per person — about 72 hours of essentials — plus some coins, since shops may have no change. Store it dry, in a fixed spot known only to your household.

Skills

• Learn where to shut off power, gas and waterEssential

  Water and electricity are a lethal mix, so cutting power before flooding reaches sockets matters. Find your main breaker, gas valve and water stopcock now — your landlord or utility company can show you — and label them clearly. Practise reaching them in the dark, and never touch electrics while standing in water.

Know & check

• Check if your home is in a flood-risk areaEssential

  The Länder publish flood hazard and risk maps under the EU Floods Directive — look up your address on your Land's flood hazard maps or on hochwasserzentralen.de, or ask your municipality. Check river, coastal and heavy-rain risk separately, since flash floods also hit homes far from any water. The expected depth tells you what to protect first.

• Install an official warning app (e.g. NINA)Essential

  Official apps add what sirens and cell broadcast cannot: maps, detailed instructions and advice for places you choose. In Germany NINA and KATWARN carry the federal warnings. Allow notifications and location, add home and workplace, and never rely on a single warning channel.

• Enable cell broadcast (DE-Alert) on your phoneEssential

  Germany warns phones directly via cell broadcast ("DE-Alert") — no app, no signup, and it gets through even on congested networks. Check it is on: at the bottom of iOS notification settings, or under wireless emergency alerts on Android. It only reaches phones that are switched on.

• Check your flood and heavy-rain insurance cover

  Standard home policies in Germany cover storm damage but not flooding or heavy rain — that usually needs a separate natural-hazard add-on called Elementarschadenversicherung. Check buildings and contents cover, including the basement, and photograph valuables now so claims go smoothly.