Modelling coincidence and dependence of flood hazard phenomena in a Probabilistic Flood Hazard Assessment (PFHA) framework: case study in Le Havre

Many coastal urban areas and many coastal facilities must be protected against pluvial and marine floods, as their location near the sea is necessary. As part of the development of a Probabilistic Flood Hazard Approach (PFHA), several flood phenomena have to be modelled at the same time (or with an offset time) to estimate the contribution of each one. Modelling the combination and the dependence of several flooding sources is a key issue in the context of a PFHA. As coastal zones in France are densely populated, marine flooding represents a natural hazard threatening the coastal populations and facilities in several areas along the shore. Indeed, marine flooding is the most important source of coastal lowlands inundations. It is mainly generated by storm action that makes sea level rise above the tide. Furthermore, when combined with rainfall, coastal flooding can be more consequent. While there are several approaches to analyse and characterize marine flooding hazard with either extreme sea levels or intense rainfall, only few studies combine these two phenomena in a PFHA framework. Thus this study aims to develop a method for the analysis of a combined action of rainfall and sea level. This analysis is performed on the city of Le Havre, a French urban city on the English Channel coast, as a case study. In this work, we have used deterministic materials for rainfall and sea level modelling and proposed a new approach for estimating the probabilities of flooding.

     

Integration of inland and coastal storms for flood hazard assessment using a distributed hydrologic model

Due to increasing flood severities and frequencies, studies on coastal vulnerability assessment are of increasing concern. Evaluation of flood inundation depth and extent is the first issue in flood vulnerability analysis. This study has proposed a practical framework for reliable coastal floodplain delineation considering both inland and coastal flooding. New York City (NYC) has been considered as the case study because of its vulnerability to storm surge-induced hazards. For floodplain delineation, a distributed hydrologic model is used. In the proposed method, the severities of combined inland and coastal floods for different recurrence intervals are determined. Through analyzing past storms in the study region, a referenced (base) configuration of rainfall and storm surge is selected to be used for defining flood scenarios with different return periods. The inundated areas are determined under different flooding scenarios. The inundation maps of 2012 superstorm Sandy in NYC is simulated and compared with the FEMA revised maps which shows a close agreement. This methodology could be of significant value to the planners and engineers working on the preparedness of coastal urban communities against storms by providing a platform for updating inundation maps as new events are observed and new information becomes available.     

Coastal inundation and damage exposure estimation: a case study for Jakarta

Coastal flooding poses serious threats to coastal areas, and the vulnerability of coastal communities and economic sectors to flooding will increase in the coming decades due to environmental and socioeconomic changes. It is increasingly recognised that estimates of the vulnerability of cities are essential for planning adaptation measures. Jakarta is a case in point, since parts of the city are subjected to regular flooding on a near-monthly basis. In order to assess the current and future coastal flood hazard, we set up a GIS-based flood model of northern Jakarta to simulate inundated area and value of exposed assets. Under current conditions, estimated damage exposure to extreme coastal flood events with return periods of 100 and 1,000 years is high (€4.0 and €5.2 billion, respectively). Under the scenario for 2100, damage exposure associated with these events increases by a factor 4–5, with little difference between low/high sea-level rise scenarios. This increase is mainly due to rapid land subsidence and excludes socioeconomic developments. We also develop a detemporalised inundation scenario for assessing impacts associated with any coastal flood scenario. This allows for the identification of critical points above which large increases in damage exposure can be expected and also for the assessment of adaptation options against hypothetical user-defined levels of change, rather than being bound to a discrete set of a priori scenarios. The study highlights the need for urgent attention to the land subsidence problem; a continuation of the current rate would result in catastrophic increases in damage exposure.     

广州东濠涌流域城市洪涝灾害情景模拟与风险评估

绘制直观与可靠的城市洪涝灾害风险区划图,为城市防洪排涝相关部门决策提供参考依据。以广州市东濠涌流域为研究区域,综合考虑城市降雨、径流、地形和排水系统特性,构建基于InfoWorks ICM的一维-二维耦合城市洪涝仿真模型,模拟暴雨重现期为1年、5年、50年情景下的洪涝过程并获取致灾因子数据。调研分析区域的孕灾环境、承灾体和防灾减灾能力概况,结合层次分析法、评价等级和阈值划分等进行洪涝灾害风险评估。结果表明:城市洪涝仿真模型在一维排水系统和二维地面淹没模拟上均有较好的精度和可靠性,保证了致灾因子数据的可靠性;风险区划图能较好地反映流域的风险分布;随着重现期增大,较高、高风险区的面积显著增加,为防洪排涝重点关注区域。     

Variation of uncertainty of drainage density in flood hazard mapping assessment with coupled 1D–2D hydrodynamics model

Coupled 1D–2D hydrodynamic models are widely utilized in flood hazard mapping. Previous studies adopted conceptual hydrological models or 1D hydrodynamic models to evaluate the impact of drainage density on river flow. However, the drainage density affects not only river flow, but also the flooded area and location. Therefore, this work adopts the 1D–2D model SOBEK to investigate the impact of drainage density on river flow. The uncertainty of drainage density in flood hazard mapping is assessed by a designed case and a real case, Yanshuixi Drainage in Tainan, Taiwan. Analytical results indicate that under the same return period rainfall, reduction in tributary drainages in a model (indicating a lower drainage density) results in an underestimate of the flooded area in tributary drainages. This underestimate causes higher peak discharges and total volume of discharges in the drainages, leading to flooding in certain downstream reaches, thereby overestimating the flooded area. The uncertainty of drainage density decreases with increased rainfall. We suggest that modeling flood hazard mapping with low return period rainfalls requires tributary drainages. For extreme rainfall events, a lower drainage density could be selected, but the drainage density of local key areas should be raised.

     

Modelling the impact of sea-level rise on urban flood probability in SE China

Urban drainage systems in coastal cities in SE China are characterized by often complex canal and sluicegate systems that are designed to safely drain pluvial flooding whilst preventing tidal inundation.However, the risk of coastal flooding in the region is expected to increase over the next 50-100 years, as urban areas continue to expand and sea-levels are expected to rise. To assess the impact of projected sealevel rise on this type of urban drainage system, a one-dimensional model and decision support tool was developed. The model indicated that although sea-level rise represents a significant challenge, flood probability will continue to be most influenced by rainfall. Events that are significant enough to cause flooding will most likely be minimally impacted by changes to the tidal frame. However, it was found that a sea-level rise of up to 1.2 m by 2010 would result in increased drainage times and higher volumes of over-topping when flooding occurs.     

Classification of cyclone hazard prone districts of India

Hazards associated with tropical cyclones are long-duration rotatory high-velocity winds, very heavy rain and storm tide. India has a coastline of about 7,516?km of which 5,400?km is along the mainland. The entire coast is affected by cyclones with varying frequency and intensity. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is the nodal government agency that provides weather services related to cyclones in India. However, IMD has not identified cyclone-prone districts following any specific definition though the districts for which cyclone warnings are issued have been identified. On the other hand, for the purpose of better cyclone disaster management in the country, it is necessary to define cyclone proneness and identify cyclone-prone coastal districts. It is also necessary to decide degree of hazard proneness of a district by considering cyclone parameters so that mitigation measures are prioritised. In this context, an attempt has been made to prepare a list of cyclone hazard prone districts by adopting hazard criteria. Out of 96 districts under consideration, 12, 45, 31 and 08 districts are in very high, high, moderate and low categories of proneness, respectively. In general, the coastal districts of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are more prone and are in the high to very high category. The cyclone hazard proneness factor is very high for the districts of Nellore, East Godawari, and Krishna in Andhra Pradesh; Yanam in Puducherry; Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur in Orissa; and South and North 24 Parganas, Medinipur and Kolkata in West Bengal. The results give a realistic picture of degree of cyclone hazard proneness of districts, as they represent the frequency and intensity of land falling cyclones along with all other hazards like rainfall, wind and storm surge. The categorisation of districts with degree of proneness also tallies with observed pictures. Therefore, this classification of coastal districts based on hazard may be considered for all the required purposes including coastal zone management and planning. However, the vulnerability of the place has not been taken into consideration. Therefore, composite cyclone risk of a district, which is the product of hazard and vulnerability, needs to be assessed separately through detailed study.     

Early warning system for detection of urban pluvial flooding hazard levels in an ungauged basin

Prolonged and high intensity rainfall often saturates urban drainage systems and generates urban pluvial flooding, resulting in hazardous flash floods. The city most affected by urban flooding in Colombia (South America) is Barranquilla since lacks a proper storm water drainage system. Heavy rainfall produces flash floods to quickly become torrential streams that flow down the streets endangering pedestrians. This research describes a low-cost early warning system (EWS) to detect in real time the hazard level of a stream in an ungauged basin. The EWS indicates whether it is safe or not for pedestrians to cross a flooded street, based on certain criteria used to assess the hazard level of the torrent. A hydrological and hydraulic model calculates the flow, velocity and water level in all cross sections along the stream. The model uses only real-time measurements of rain gauges and topographic survey data to determine the hazard level. Finally, a wireless sensor network sends the alert to a web platform and warns the community in real time.

     

Analysis of the Sanchung inundation during Typhoon Aere, 2004

Typhoon Aere swept over Taiwan with heavy rain, which induced huge discharge in the Danshuei River in August 2004. The flood in the Danshuei River intruded Sanchung through a culvert that was under construction. The deluge inundated thousands of premises and resulted in severe damage. This study reconstructs the event scenario using hydrologic and hydraulic methods to analyse the causes of the disaster. We integrated the radar rainfall estimations and rain gauge observations to recreate the temporal and spatial varied precipitation inputs; estimated the influent volume from the culvert using hydrologic equations; and simulated the flood dynamic within the study area during the event with a coupled overland and sewer flow model. The evidence showed that both the rainfall and the culvert flow contributed similar flood volume to the study area, but culvert discharge concentrated at single location within short time period such that the local drainage system could not cope with and notable damage was incurred.     

Rainfall flood hazard at nuclear power plants in India

Flood hazard evaluation is an important input for Nuclear Power Plants external events safety studies. In the present study, flood hazard at various nuclear sites in India due to rainfall has been evaluated. Hazard estimation is a statistical procedure by which rainfall intensity versus occurrence frequency is estimated from historical records of rainfall data and extrapolated with asymptotic extreme value distribution. Rainfall data needed for flood hazard assessment are daily annual maximum rainfall (24?h data). The observed data points have been fitted using Gumbel, power law and exponential distribution, and return period has been estimated. To study the stationarity of rainfall data, a moving window estimate of the parameters has been performed. The rainfall pattern is stationary in both coastal and inland regions over the period of observation. The coastal regions show intense rainfall and higher variability than inland regions. Based on the plant layout, catchment area and drainage capacity, the prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) site is unlikely to be flooded.     

Multi-risk interpretation of natural hazards for settlements of the Hatay province in the east Mediterranean region, Turkey using SRTM DEM

Many scientists have recently alarmed natural hazards due to global climate change. Such natural disasters are coastal inundation in response to sea-level rise, and/or river flooding caused by heavy rain falls, additionally earthquakes and, etc. In terms of natural hazards, one of the most sensitive and culturally significant areas in Turkey is the Hatay province in the east Mediterranean region. The Hatay province is located on such a region which is not only vulnerable to coastal inundation and river flooding, but also is a tectonically and seismically sensitive area. In this study, for taking conservation measures against the natural hazards beforehand and decision-making on any future land-planning; a digital terrain model and a 3D fly-through model of the Hatay province were generated; then quantitatively and/or qualitatively interpreted by employing the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission digital elevation model. Besides, stream drainage patterns, lineaments and structural–geological features were extracted for natural hazard risk interpretation of settlements and their relationships among the landscape characteristics were exhibited by combining tectonic information previously confirmed. Regarding the sea-level rise, the coastal inundation risk map indicates that the most vulnerable areas are: coastlines of Iskenderun, Arsuz, Payas and Samandag, respectively. By/after analyzing the digital terrain of the study region and stream drainage patterns, the Karasu Valley Zone, where the Amik plain, settlements of Antakya, Iskenderun, Arsuz, Payas and Samandag with their flood plains have the most flooding risk in decreasing order, respectively when a heavy raining occurs. Finally, analysis of tectonics has revealed that Antakya, Iskenderun, Hassa, Kirikhan, Samandag, Payas, Arsuz, Altinozu, Kumlu and Hacipasa regions have the most sensitivity to earthquake disaster in the study region.     

Rainfall thresholds for flood triggering. The case of Marathonas in Greece

Basins across Mediterranean coast are often subject to rapid inundation phenomena caused by intense rainfall events. In this flash flooding regime, common practices for risk mitigation involve hydraulic modeling, geomorphic, and hydrologic analysis. However, apart from examining the intrinsic characteristics of a basin, realistic flood hazard assessment requires good understanding of the role of climatic forcing. In this work, peak rainfall intensities, total storm accumulation, average intensity, and antecedent moisture conditions of the 52 most important storms in record, during the period from 1993 to 2008, in northeast Attica, in Greece, are examined to investigate whether there is a correlation between specific rainfall conditions and flood triggering in the area. For this purpose, precipitation data from a network of five rain gauges installed across the study area were collected and analyzed. Storms totals, average intensity, antecedent moisture conditions, and peak intensities variations were calculated and compared with local flooding history. Results showed that among these rainfall measures, only peak storm intensity presents a significant correlation with flood triggering, and a rainfall threshold above which flooding becomes highly probable can be defined.     

Flood hazard assessment with multiparameter approach derived from coupled 1D and 2D hydrodynamic flow model

Hydrodynamic flow modeling is carried out using a coupled 1D and 2D hydrodynamic flow model in northern India where an industrial plant is proposed. Two flooding scenarios, one considering the flooding source at regional/catchment level and another considering all flooding sources at local level have been simulated. For simulating flooding scenario due to flooding of the upstream catchment, the probable maximum flood (PMF) in the main river is routed and its flooding impact at the plant site is studied, while at the local level flooding, in addition to PMF in the main river, the probable maximum precipitation at the plant site and breaches in the canals near the plant site have been considered. The flood extent, depth, level, duration and maximum flow velocity have been computed. Three parameters namely the flood depth, cross product of flood depth and velocity and flood duration have been used for assessing the flood hazard, and a flood hazard classification scheme has been proposed. Flood hazard assessment for flooding due to upstream catchment and study on local scale facilitates determination of plinth level for the plant site and helps in identifying the flood protection measures.     

Characterizing flood hazard risk in data-scarce areas,using a remote sensing and GIS-based flood hazard index

The frequency in occurrence and severity of floods has increased globally. However, many regions around the globe, especially in developing countries, lack the necessary field monitoring data to characterize flood hazard risk. This paper puts forward methodology for developing flood hazard maps that define flood hazard risk, using a remote sensing and GIS-based flood hazard index (FHI), for the Nyamwamba watershed in western Uganda. The FHI was compiled using analytical hierarchy process and considered slope, flow accumulation, drainage network density, distance from drainage channel, geology, land use/cover and rainfall intensity as the flood causative factors. These factors were derived from Landsat, SRTM and PERSIANN remote sensing data products, except for geology that requires field data. The resultant composite FHI yielded a flood hazard map pointing out that over 11 and 18% of the study area was very highly and highly susceptible to flooding, respectively, while the remaining area ranged from medium to very low risk. The resulting flood hazard map was further verified using inundation area of a historical flood event in the study area. The proposed methodology was effective in producing a flood hazard map at the watershed local scale, in a data-scarce region, useful in devising flood mitigation measures.     

Flooding trends and their impacts on coastal communities of Western Cape Province,South Africa

Climate change-induced extreme weather events have been at their worst increase in the past decade (2010–2020) across Africa and globally. This has proved disruptive to global socio-economic activities. One of the challenges that has been faced in this regard is the increased coastal flooding of cities. This study examined the trends and impacts of coastal flooding in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Making use of archival climate data and primary data from key informants and field observations, it emerged that there is a statistically significant increase in the frequency of flooding and consequent human and economic losses from such in the coastal cities of the province. Flooding in urban areas of the Western Cape is a factor of human and natural factors ranging from extreme rainfall, usually caused by persistent cut off-lows, midlatitude cyclones, cold fronts and intense storms. Such floods become compounded by poor drainage caused by vegetative overgrowth on waterways and land pollution that can be traced to poor drainage maintenance. Clogging of waterways and drainage systems enhances the risk of flooding. Increased urbanisation, overpopulation in some areas and non-adherence to environmental laws results in both the affluent and poor settling on vulnerable ecosystems. These include coastal areas, estuaries, and waterways, and this worsens the risk of flooding. The study recommends a comprehensive approach to deal with factors that increase the risk of flooding as informed by the provisions of both the Sustainable Development Goals framework and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 in a bid to de-risking human settlement in South Africa.

     

A method for flood hazard mapping based on basin morphometry: application in two catchments in Greece

Basin morphometric parameters play an important role in hydrological processes, as they largely control a catchment’s hydrologic response. Their analysis becomes even more significant when studying runoff reaction to intense rainfall, especially in the case of ungauged, flash flood prone basins. Unit hydrographs are one of the useful tools for estimating runoff when instrumental data are inadequate. In this work, instantaneous unit hydrographs based on the time-area method have been compiled along the drainage networks of two small rural catchments in Greece, situated approximately 25 km northeast of its capital, Athens. The two catchments drained by ephemeral torrents, namely Rapentosa and Charadros, have been subject to flash flooding during the last decades, which caused extensive damages at the local small towns of Marathon and Vranas. Hydrograph compilation in numerous locations along the catchments’ drainage networks directly reflected the runoff conditions across each basin against a given rainfall. This gave a holistic assessment of their hydrologic response, allowing the detection of areas where peak flow rates were elevated and therefore, there was higher flood potential. The resulting flood hazard zonation showed good correlation with locations of damages induced by past flood events, indicating that the method can successfully predict flood hazard spatial distribution. The whole methodology was based on geographic information software due to its excellent capabilities on storing and processing spatial data.     

Riverine flood assessment in Jhang district in connection with ENSO and summer monsoon rainfall over Upper Indus Basin for 2010

Pakistan has experienced severe floods over the past decades due to climate variability. Among all the floods, the flood of 2010 was the worst in history. This study focuses on the assessment of (1) riverine flooding in the district Jhang (where Jhelum and Chenab rivers join, and the district was severely flood affected) and (2) south Asiatic summer monsoon rainfall patterns and anomalies considering the case of 2010 flood in Pakistan. The land use/cover change has been analyzed by using Landsat TM 30 m resolution satellite imageries for supervised classification, and three instances have been compared, i.e., pre-flooding, flooding, and post-flooding. The water flow accumulation, drainage density and pattern, and river catchment areas have been calculated by using Shutter Radar Topography Mission digital elevation model 90 m resolution. The standard deviation of south Asiatic summer monsoon rainfall patterns, anomalies and normal (1979–2008) has been calculated for July, August, and September by using rainfall data set of Era interim (0.75° × 0.75° resolution). El Niño Southern Oscillation has also been considered for its role in prevailing rainfall anomalies during the year 2010 over Upper Indus Basin region. Results show the considerable changing of land cover during the three instances in the Jhang district and water content in the rivers. Abnormal rainfall patterns over Upper Indus Basin region prevailed during summer monsoon months in the year 2010 and 2011. The El Niño (2009–2010) and its rapid phase transition to La Niña (2011–2012) may be the cause of severity and disturbances in rainfall patterns during the year 2010. The Geographical Information System techniques and model based simulated climate data sets have been used in this study which can be helpful in developing a monitoring tool for flood management.     

高度城镇化背景下珠三角地区极端降雨时空演变特征

为分析城镇化发展程度与极端降雨变化之间的关系,选取珠江三角洲地区22个雨量站1973—2012年的小时降雨资料,利用空间分析、线性回归、滑动平均和Mann-Kendall趋势检验等方法,分析高度城镇化背景下珠三角地区极端降雨时空分布规律和变化特性,并解析暴雨雨型变化特征。结果表明:①珠江三角洲高度城镇化地区极端降雨量上升了44.3 mm/（10 a）,呈显著增加趋势,相邻其他地区则无明显变化,高度城镇化地区的前汛期极端降雨量显著增多是造成其年极端降雨量增加的主要原因。②珠三角地区暴雨雨型以单峰型为主,其中以雨峰在前的Ⅰ型暴雨占比最高,约为33.7%,高度城镇化地区Ⅰ型暴雨发生频率明显增加,易导致暴雨内涝事件增加,需加强高度城镇化地区防洪排涝工作。     

Modelling the flood vulnerability of deltaic Kuching City,Malaysia

The main objective of this writing is to present a practical way to envisage the flood vulnerability in deltaic region, particularly on the concern of sea level rise. Kuching city of Malaysia is established on banks of Sarawak River, 30 km from the sea. Therefore, it is subjected to fluvial and tidal floods. Kuching Bay experiences the highest King Tides in Southeast Asia region. These tide magnitudes could be a glimpse of future sea level rise. By means of modelling these tides, it provides an understanding and preparation for the impacts of sea level rise on the flood mitigation infrastructures and the city itself. The modelling efforts had created an illustration that a 10% rise in tide levels would result in increase of flooding areas up to 6% relative to existing tide levels.     

An integrated flood inundation model for coastal urban watershed of Navi Mumbai,India

Most urban agglomerations located in the Mumbai coastal region in India are vulnerable to flooding due to increasing frequency of the short-duration heavy rainfall, by virtue of their location at foothills on one side and tidal variations on the other side. Steep slopes in the catchment ensure fast runoff and tidal variation adds to backwater effect in the drainage system, which together are favorable for flooding. The present study simulates the flood inundation due to heavy rainfall and high-tide conditions in a coastal urban catchment within Mumbai region with detention pond. Overland flow is modeled using a mass balance approach, which can adapt to hilly slopes and smoothly accommodate detention pond hydraulics. Dynamic wave channel routing based on finite element method captures the backwater effects due to tidal variation, and raster-based flood inundation model enables direct use of digital elevation model. The integrated model is capable of simulating detention pond hydraulics within the raster flood model for heavy rainfall events. The database required for the model is obtained from the geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques. Application of the integrated model to literature problems and the catchment of the study area for two non-flooding events gave satisfactory results. Further, the model is applied to an extreme rainfall event of July 26, 2005, coinciding with high-tide conditions, which revealed vulnerability of the area to flooding despite of an existing detention pond. A sensitivity analysis on the location of detention pond indicated that catchment response can be better governed by relocating the detention pond to upstream of existing detention pond especially when heavy rainfall events are becoming frequent.