Wassergefahr/Wasserwehr

Water hazard refers to the hazard of an area from water, regardless of whether the hazard originates from water bodies or artificial water accumulations (flooding, ice drift) or is caused by other events (e.g. cloudburst, rupture of water reservoirs).

If immediate precautions become necessary to avert an emerging water hazard, the neighbouring municipalities, even if they are not threatened, are obliged under § 52 (1) of the Hessian Water Act (HWG) to provide the necessary assistance if this can be done without significant disadvantages of their own. The municipality obliged to do so must act on its own initiative as soon as it recognises the danger to water – at the latest when the threatened municipality calls for help – and not only on the order of the water authority. If a dike is endangered in the event of flooding, the residents of the threatened and, if necessary, neighbouring municipalities must provide the necessary assistance by means of personal services or other services by order of the water authority in accordance with Section 52 (2) of the HWG within the framework of the conventional.

If necessary, the water authorities shall set up flood warning and reporting services on surface waters in order to warn the locally competent authorities in good time of expected flooding, § 53 para. 1 HWG. According to § 53 para. 2 HWG, municipalities that are endangered by flooding must set up a water military service that implements measures to avert danger.

In the event of an imminent danger and in the event of a dike breach on the Rhine and Main winter, the water authority is authorised under Section 53 (4) HWG to order deployments by the units and facilities of the civil protection units and institutions (Section 26 HBKG) until the disaster has been determined in accordance with Section 43 HBKG. The obligation to pay costs and the reimbursement of costs in the event of an operation by the fire brigades are based on §§ 60 and 61 HBKG.