PROTECTION OF THE HISTORIC CITY CENTRE IN DRESDEN

DRESDEN: PROTECTION OF THE HISTORIC CITY CENTRE

August 2002: Dresden experiences the ‘flood of the century’ – the most devastating flood in its history. Parts of the city centre are flooded by the Elbe. The water level reaches a peak of 9.4 metres. With more than 4,500 metres of flow per second, the water masses make their way. The Semper Opera House alone suffered damage amounting to 27 million euros.

In the wake of the flood disaster, Dresden strengthened the flood defences in the affected districts by 2011. Extensive construction work is planned and has been in progress since 2006.

Mobile flood protection – combining aesthetics and safety.

In addition to the installation of permanent flood protection systems, Dresden decided in favour of the terra dam beam system from terra Infrastructure in the search for adequate mobile flood protection solutions for the inner old town and the historic district. Urban architects and planners were convinced by the quality and functionality of the system following a successful presentation.

Since the old town is home to many of Dresden's central attractions – such as the Zwinger Palace and the Frauenkirche – the city wants to integrate the protective barriers carefully and as unobtrusively as possible into the existing buildings. The mobile thyssenkrupp dam system on the banks of the Elbe proved to be the ideal supplement for this purpose. Filtering cartridge The terra dam system is placed on a reinforced concrete wall covered with sandstone and provides protection against water levels of up to 9.24 metres.

Particular emphasis was placed on the visible anchor plates when designing the mobile flood protection system, which further enhance the sandstone-clad reinforced concrete wall with their surface of glass granulate. In the event of flooding, the mobile aluminium attachment and locking elements can be quickly mounted on these anchor plates.

The tailor-made flood protection system.

Additional stop logs, stop log panels, stay and connection assemblies have been developed as an extension of the terra stop log system for the given local conditions. Passages and flights of steps are additionally secured. This provides a sufficiently high level of flood protection even against extreme water levels.

In a subsequent construction phase, a mobile flood protection system will be used for the first time as a target overflow threshold. Should the protection height of 9.24 metres not be sufficient and a higher flood wave approaches Dresden, the old town will be overflowed in a controlled manner via the system at this point after prior evacuation. A high-quality flood protection system like the mobile terra stop log system is the basis for urban responsibility that takes climate change, aesthetic demands and maximum safety seriously and seeks to reconcile them.