COASTAL FLOOD RISK: THE IMPORTANCE OF INTANGIBLE LOSSES AND THEIR INTEGRATION

The joint research project “XtremRisK” was initiated with the main objective of enhancing the knowledge with respect to the uncertainties of extreme storm surge predictions as well as quantifying exemplarily the flood risk under current conditions and future climate scenarios exemplarily for two pilot sites in Germany: Sylt Island representative for an open coast and Hamburg for an estuarine urban area. Flood risk is generally determined by the product of the flooding probability and the possible losses associated with the flood event. Flood losses are categorized as tangible and intangible depending on whether or not the losses can be assessed in monetary values. Up to date, intangible loses are not or only partially incorporated in flood risk analysis due to the lack of appropriate evaluation and integration methodologies. This study focuses on developing methodologies for the evaluation of intangible losses due to flooding and for their integration with tangible losses in flood risk analysis