January/February 2022 - 89

By November 2021, debris removal
was largely done, and some houses and
infrastructure still were being demolished
as residents considered whether
to return and rebuild. Many businesses
are struggling to survive. Out of the 50
wineries in the Ahr valley, for example,
46 were severely affected by the flood.
While only 10% of the vineyard area was
destroyed, the main infrastructure for
wine production (including storage) was
destroyed by surging flood waters.
Conclusion
During 10 days in the primary areas of
the 2021 Western European flood, the
reconnaissance team gained much
insight into the vast extent of the flood
event. Many valuable lessons were
learned from an engineering perspective,
many case studies were documented
for future publication, and
several large datasets remain to be
processed and analyzed.
We are confident that the insight
from this data will help inform
engineers and others about extreme
flooding events' impact on infrastructure,
which is especially relevant as
global climate change brings extreme
flooding from rainfall events, spring
melts and coastal processes that are
expected to occur more frequently and
possibly with increasing intensities.
Severe flooding events across the United
States just this year clearly illustrate the
need to better understand how extreme
Trooz, Belgium bridge
LiDAR point cloud model of bridge
flooding impacts sediment relocation,
geotechnical properties, and their
effects on critical infrastructure and
communities.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank
Reconnaissance Report team members,
which also included: In the U.S.: Michael
Gardner, Ph.D. (Univ. of Nevada, Reno);
Mi c h a e l G e o r g e , P h . D . ( BGC
Engineering); Elliot Nichols (Georgia
Tech); in Germany: Jeremias Mueller
(Bergakadmie Freiberg); Juergen Stamm,
Ph.D., (TU Dresden); Tobias Lemnitzer
(Planungsbuero Lemnitzer); Egbert Stark
(Independent Consultant); in Belgium:
Stijn Francois, Ph.D., (KU Leuven);
Frederik Collin, Ph.D., (University of
Liege); Hadrien Rattez, Ph.D., (UC
Louvain); in the Netherlands: Margreet
van Marle, Ph.D., (Deltares); Laurens
Leunge (Deltares); Kees van Ginkel
(Deltares); and Antonis Mavritsakis,
Ph.D., (Deltares).
Anne Lemnitzer, Ph.D., P.E., is an associate
professor at the University of California, Irvine,
and a member of DFI Europe and the DFI Board of
Trustees. Her research interests are in experimental
soil-structure interaction, bridge foundation
systems, underground structures, deep
foundations and sensor instrumentation.
Elliot Nichols is a Ph.D. student at the Georgia
Institute of Technology whose research uses remote
sensing methods for the long-term monitoring of
critical infrastructure and the detection of geohazards.
Michael
Gardner, Ph.D., P.E., is an assistant
professor at the University of Nevada in Reno with
research foci on infrastructure design, natural
hazard modeling, numerical modeling, and
implementation of UAV and sensing technology in
geotechnical hazard engineering.
Nina Stark, Ph.D., is an associate professor at
Germany's Steinbachtal Dam with post-flood SfM modeling by drone
Virginia Tech, with research interests in coastal
and marine geotechnics, subaquatic sediment
dynamics, scour and erosion, remote sensing and
field method development, and naval applications.
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * JAN/FEB 2022 * 89
January/February 2022

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