Following the very positive feedback from the first DKKV workshop last year, this year’s DKKV workshop was held in collaboration with the German Weather Service (DWD) on 27 September 2024 on the topic of ‘Acting with foresight in the event of flooding and extreme weather: Understanding, warning and deciding together’ as part of the Extreme Weather Congress and the German Climate Management Conference in Hamburg. Numerous representatives of institutional members of DKKV and partner organisations with operational areas of application took part in order to exchange views on various topics relating to weather warnings and their effects.
A brief welcome by Benni Thiebes (DKKV) and Andreas Lambert (DWD) was followed by three exciting keynote speeches on the topic of ‘Learning from practice’. Firstly, Paul Geoerg from the vfdb explained natural and weather hazards from the perspective of end users. Thomas Ehrig from the Hamburg Fire Brigade then gave insights into the effects and benefits of DWD forecasts in the context of firefighting operations in Hamburg. Finally, Jens Krause from the Hamburg Ministry of the Interior shared his experiences with the dispersion calculation and the heavy rain risk project.
n four interactive world cafés, the participants discussed various key topics in small groups. The topics included the further development of emergency response tactics, the use of weather data and cooperation with the DWD, as well as weather-related firefighting operations and the new DWD portal for emergency dispersion calculations.
The afternoon started with a keynote speech by the DWD, in which Kathrin Feige, Carola Heitmann-Bacza, Christoph Brendel and Andreas Lambert presented new products from the DWD portfolio. In the second part of the World Café, topics and projects such as co-design, serious games, the warning portal, coastal warnings and heavy rain analyses were discussed. The results of these phases were then summarised and discussed in depth in a fishbowl discussion before the event ended with a wrap-up.
The day showed how important it is to bring the various stakeholders together and to exchange ideas openly. The DKKV workshop series will now be continued in order to deal with selected aspects in greater depth.
Detailed documentation will be sent to the participants shortly.