Flash estimate of flood damage in Austria in 2024

Interactive visualisation of agricultural damage and affected companies

The September 2024 flood caused extensive damage in large parts of Austria. WIFO and ASCII are providing flash estimates of the damage to agricultural crops and key figures on the affected companies in manufacturing and other sectors. The interactive graphic makes it possible to view the estimates by municipality (agriculture) or district (affected companies). It should be noted that these are preliminary numbers. Detailed information on data and disclaimers regarding the estimates can be found below.

Disclaimer

Agriculture: The initial estimates presented here are based on rapidly accessible information in September 2024. The estimate of the amount of damage is based on current prices of agricultural crops from BAB, assumptions on crop yields (average of the last three years at federal state level, according to Statistics Austria and information on standard outputs from the BML (Table 4.9.8 of the Green Report 2024)). The zones with heavy flooding were provided by ASCII. The affected agricultural areas come from INSPIRE. The estimates of damage shown are limited to crops, whereby a total loss of the harvest was assumed in each case. Damage to livestock, buildings and inventory was not included in the estimate. Information on this is expected in the course of the event documentation.

Manufacturing and other companies: Data sources include information from OpenStreetMap and commercial business intelligence datasets (Orbis). Flood zones were overlaid with reports from 112 municipalities in Lower Austria to identify affected companies. Direct economic losses were estimated based on sector classification, company size and modelled flood exposure. The findings are preliminary, as standardised risk areas (100-year flood) and the affected businesses in these areas were identified. A total of 841 companies were identified, of which 676 are severely affected.