Several towns and regions in Denmark have found themselves dealing with heavy rainfall in recent weeks. One city needs it says more action from the government to cover the cost of major damage during future extreme weather.
Several parts of Denmark were soaked by torrential downpours last week. Some areas received more than the average national rainfall for July within a 24-hour period.
The wet weather elicited meteorological agency DMI’s first ever “dangerous” weather warning for rainf, while the Grøn music festival in west coast city Esbjerg was called off as downpours made local authorities advise residents to stay indoors.
A number of roads remain flooded in the town, with heavy wet weather persisting.
The elected official in charge of Esbjerg Municipality’s climate and environment section, Jørgen Ahlquist, called for a national plan for dealing with heavy rain in an interview with broadcaster DR.
“It’s important to prioritise this because the water has become a major inconvenience for may of our residents and that has a societal consequence in regards to costs [to local authorities],” he said.
“We don’t have a sewerage system designed to take these very, very large volumes of water,” he said.
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National politicians have also backed the views of the Esbjerg official with Leila Stockmarr of the Red Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) party saying a “fundmental discussion” is needed over “who pays the bill” when rain disrupts local communities.
“Right now, far too much of the responsibility is on municipalities,” Stockmarr said to DR.
Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said in a written comment to the broadcaster that a national action plans are forthcoming and that planning for future weather will be necessary.
In a report last year, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) concluded that that the cost of flooding, cloudbursts and storm surges over the next 100 years could run into hundreds of billions of kroner.
Researchers stated that “relatively high levels of protection offer value” in the long term, “even though it will be expensive.”