Resilience Modeling of Flood Induced Electrical Distribution Network Failures: Munich, Germany

Of many defining characteristics for a flood resilient city and its infrastructure networks, mitigating flooding impacts and recovering quickly to a pre-flood state are to be considered of high importance. With a likely increase in the frequency and intensity of future heavy precipitation and flooding events in Europe, the vulnerability of the electrical distribution network of Maxvorstadt, Munich will also increase. These facts justify the need for quantifying how the electrical distribution network would respond to flooding, and more so, how stakeholders can better prepare for such an event. For a synthetic electrical distribution network of Maxvorstadt, the timing and location of network components failure due to flooding and affected persons without power have been computed for a combination of realistic future flooding events via the Electrical Network Flood Resilience Model developed in this study. It has been learned that most buildings, and therefore their inhabitants, lose power due to the failure of a specific component, Medium Voltage—Low Voltage transformer buses, and that flood risk solutions should focus on protecting network components from inundation to ensure its functionality through flooding events. Solutions like dry proofing such components before severe flooding occurs is recommended for several neighborhoods analyzed in this study.