Early warning is essential for protecting people and mitigating damage in case of flood events. However, early warning is only helpful if the parties at risk are reached by the warning, if they believe the warning and if they know how to react appropriately. Finding suitable methods for communicating helpful warnings to the "last mile" remains a challenge. To gain more knowledge, surveys were undertaken after the August 2002 and the June 2013 floods in Germany, asking affected private households and companies about warnings they received and emergency measures they undertook. Results show that in 2002 early warning did not work well: in many areas warnings came late or were imprecise. Many people (27 %) and companies (45 %) stated that they had not received any flood warning. Additionally, preparedness of private households and companies was low before 2002, mainly due to a lack of flood experience. After the 2002 flood, many initiatives were launched and investments undertaken to improve flood risk management including the flood warning systems in Germany. In 2013 only a small share of the affected people (7 %) and companies (7 %) were not reached by any warning. Additionally, also private households and companies were better prepared. For instance, the share of companies which have an emergency plan in place has increased from 10 % in 2002 to 26 % in 2013. However, there is still room for improvement. Therefore, integrated early warning systems from monitoring through to the reaction of the affected parties as well as effective risk and emergency communication need continuous further improvement.