As rivers across the continent reach record lows, emergency mobility manufacturer Amphicruiser points to the mechanism that turns baked ground into fast water, and to the handover at the water’s edge that still costs rescue teams time.
Roughly half of the European Union and the United Kingdom is currently affected by drought. In August the Loire, Po, Rhine and Danube all reached record low levels, and soil moisture across central Europe remains far below normal.
For most people, that reads as the opposite of a flood problem. Hydrologically, it is closer to a precondition for one.
Dry, compacted soil absorbs very little. When heavy rain eventually arrives, most of it runs straight off the surface into low ground and drainage systems instead of soaking in.
Water rises in hours rather than days, and it rises in places where no dike is being watched. National agencies issue this warning after every prolonged dry spell.
Where the response slows down
The consequence for emergency services is not primarily about volume. It is about onset speed, and therefore about response time. Almost every flood operation contains a single handover: the crew arrives by vehicle, then leaves that vehicle and takes to a boat. That transfer costs time. It requires a launch point that is reachable and usable, which is often exactly what a flash flood removes. And it puts the crew outside the vehicle, standing in moving water, at the least convenient moment of the operation.
Jacco van der Stelt, Commercial Manager, Emergency Mobility Systems GmbH, said: “The limiting factor in a flood response is rarely the willingness or skill of the team. It is the point where the road ends and the water begins.
“Everything a service builds around that point, the trailers, the slipways, the transfer procedures, the second crew, exists because of our vehicles, not because the emergency asks for it.”
Removing the transfer
Amphicruiser builds amphibious emergency response vehicles on the Toyota Land Cruiser 79 platform. The vehicle drives to the water on public roads and continues into it under its own power, with no trailer, no slipway and no change of vehicle. It is certified by TÜV as a road vehicle and by Lloyd’s Register as a vessel.
The company argues that the current drought is a reason for services to review flood readiness now rather than at the first warning.
Jacco van der Stelt added: “Nobody arrives faster than the crew that is already there. Our job is to extend how far they can reach before anyone else arrives.”
