Verein Lebenswertes Sülztal e.V.-New flood risk area: the Knipperbach in Rösrath

28. Aug 2024



At the end of October 2022, on the initiative of the association Lebenswertes Sülztal, the city of Rösrath, the Rheinisch-Bergisch district and the association jointly submitted an application to the Cologne district government to classify the Knipperbach in Rösrath as a risk area in accordance with the EU FRMD. The application was supported by the Aggerverband and the Rösrath municipal utilities.

In June 2024, the Cologne district government announced that the application had been successful: out of 123 watercourses submitted for reassessment, the Knipperbach was one of only eleven new watercourses added to the list of high-risk watercourses. The association will propose HWS measures for the risk area, with a focus on near-natural measures in the unpopulated forest areas. The association is therefore very interested in exchanging information on planning, implementation and experience with near-natural flood protection measures in other low mountain regions.
Contact: verein@lebenswertes-suelztal.de

In the months following the application, the association produced a one-hour video showing the development of the Knipperbach and its tributaries into a high-risk watercourse with historical photos and maps, photos and videos of the 2021 flood, drone footage and various heavy rainfall scenarios. This film was shown twice in public with great success and is freely accessible on YouTube: Video (57‘); Trailer (3’)

Photo accompanying the film: Flooding of Hofferhofer Straße, 1957