Statica for the inspection of the flooded property must be provided by the owner

Prague - The structural assessment of a flooded property must be ensured by its owner. In the Czech Republic, there are just under a thousand people certified in the field of structural and dynamic engineering, and interest in their services is sure to increase. Miroslav Najdekr, Chairman of the Authorization Council of the Czech Chamber of Authorized Engineers and Technicians Active in Construction (ČKAIT), assures that they will certainly handle this influx.
    "The demand for the services of authorized engineers - structural engineers will undoubtedly increase. This will stem from situations that occur after the decrease in floodwater levels, namely drying, cleaning, and repairing damaged parts of the building's structure. Considering the number of structural engineers in the various territorial regions, there should be no concern that engineers would be overwhelmed," Najdekr reassures.
    Property owners must primarily verify upon their return that the load-bearing structure of the house has not been damaged or its stability compromised. According to Najdekr, there is no simple and universal guide on how to detect such damage. "In case of suspicion or uncertainty, it is necessary to immediately call an authorized structural engineer to perform a professional inspection and prepare a brief report from the results of the conducted local investigation," advises the structural engineer.
    The law mandates that the property owner ensures the inspection of the property. However, during natural disasters, assistance is often offered by municipalities or the state. "Considering the concentration of this profession in larger cities, municipalities usually hire structural engineers from lists that building authorities and crisis management teams have available through ČKAIT," noted Najdekr. However, this is not a rule, and owners of flooded houses should not automatically rely on it.
    In normal cases, the property owner pays for the inspection. The fee for structural assessments and the preparation of expert opinions is not fixed; it is most often determined in the form of an hourly rate for work performed. It typically amounts to thousands of crowns, but in the case of larger objects, the price may increase further. "For example, in 1997, as part of assistance to citizens, structural engineers in Moravia worked for free. Their work was later reimbursed by the state," Najdekr noted.
    ČKAIT currently records exactly 983 authorized individuals in the field of structural and dynamic engineering in its database. Contacts for them can be obtained from all regional offices of ČKAIT, or directly on the chamber's website.
    The floods have inundated dozens of municipalities, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes. The most affected include the municipalities of Lužec nad Vltavou, Hořín, Zálezlice, Kralupy nad Vltavou, Terezín, and Křešice. A significant part of Ústí nad Labem and Hřensko was also submerged. The Czech Insurers Association mentioned in its preliminary estimate on Thursday damages of about 7.5 billion crowns and approximately 96,000 insurance claims. By Friday noon, clients had reported about ten thousand claims to Czech insurers amounting to more than one billion crowns. According to Prime Minister Petr Nečas (ODS), the total damages from the floods could reach tens of billions of crowns.