Shared floods, shared lessons: an impact chain and metrics-based cross-country analysis of the 2021 floods as a blueprint for improved disaster risk management

This study employs a novel application of Impact Chains combined with tailored metrics to conduct a cross-country comparative analysis of the same hazard event. This is a research approach currently absent from the literature, yet essential for developing transferable Disaster Risk Management (DRM) lessons. Given the increased frequency of hydrometeorological hazards under climate change, the importance of such lessons cannot be overstated. Focusing on the devastating 2021 floods in Europe, this study investigates (1) how did the interplay of impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation options produce divergent disaster outcomes in two contrasting European contexts, and (2) what transferable lessons for DRM can be elicited. The selected case studies focus on the areas hardest impacted by the 2021 flood events in Romania (Alba County) and the Netherlands (Limburg Province). The three-tiered analysis performed at the level of impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation options shows that response in the two countries was well-directed, while vulnerability mitigation remains a critical problem, differing between the two case studies. Another highlight is that development in flood-prone areas and flood protection standards below (flood) hazard return periods ranked as the most influential vulnerabilities in both case studies. This research provides a new methodology for comparative disaster analysis, offering critical insights for scientists and practitioners in the face of increasingly frequent and impactful hydrometeorological hazards.