Hydrological hazards in Russia: origin,classification, changes and risk assessment

Hydrological extreme events pose an imminent risk to society and economics. In this paper, various aspects of hydrological hazards in Russia are analysed at different scales of risk assessment. It is shown that the number of hydrological and meteorological hazards in Russia has been growing every year. The frequency of economic losses associated with extreme low flow in this century has increased by factor five compared to the last decade of the previous century. With regard to floods, an interesting spatial patter can be observed. On the one hand, the number of floods in the Asian part of the country has increased, whereas on the other hand, the number and intensity of floods in estuarine areas in the European part of Russia have significantly reduced since the middle of the twentieth century, especially in the 2000s. This decrease can be attributed to runoff flooding in the mouths of regulated rivers, with an effective system of flood and ice jam protection. The analysis shows that there is an 8–12-year periodicity in the number of flood occurrences and that flood surges have intensified over the last 110 years, especially on the European territory of Russia. An integrated index that accounts for flood hazards and socio-economic vulnerability was calculated for each region of Russia. A classification of flood risk was also developed, taking into account more than 20 hydrological and social–economic characteristics. Based on these characteristics, hazard and vulnerability maps for entire Russia were generated which can be used for water management and the development of future water resources plans.

     

Economic risk maps of floods and earthquakes for European regions

Europe experiences different natural hazards and subsequent risks that have various effects on the development of its regions. The spatial significance of hazards can be expressed as an economic risk when combining hazard potential with vulnerability data. Two examples of European natural hazard maps on floods and earthquakes, as well as the resulting risk profiles of regions (combination of hazard potential and vulnerability) give a first impression on the spatial characters of hazards in Europe and their potential impact on further spatial development. The economic risk maps enable a view on the spatial dimension of the economic damage potential of flood and earthquakes, pointing out comparable situations across Europe with the aim to facilitate targeted responses and policies. The spatial character of a hazard is either defined by spatial effects that might occur in case of a disaster or by the possibility of spatial planning responses. The integration of the economic vulnerability of a region (regional GDP per capita, population density) leads to a classification of areas according to their economic risk or damage potential towards hazards. These synthetic risk profiles are presented as risk maps of European regions in administrative boundaries. Obtained information can be of interest for spatial planning and development strategies, e.g. economic risk profile of regions can influence the targets of investments and could thus be an important background for structural funding.     

Use of Systematic, Palaeoflood and Historical Data for the Improvement of Flood Risk Estimation. Review of Scientific Methods

The catastrophic floods recently occurring in Europe warn of the critical need forhydrologic data on floods over long-time scales. Palaeoflood techniques provideinformation on hydrologic variability and extreme floods over long-time intervals(100 to 10,000 yr) and may be used in combination with historical flood data (last1,000 yr) and the gauge record (last 30–50 yr). In this paper, advantages anduncertainties related to the reconstruction of palaeofloods in different geomorphologicalsettings and historical floods using different documentary sources are described.Systematic and non-systematic data can be combined in the flood frequency analysisusing different methods for the adjustment of distribution functions. Technical toolsintegrating multidisciplinary approaches (geologic, historical, hydraulic and statistical)on extreme flood risk assessment are discussed. A discussion on the potential theoreticalbases for solving the problem of dealing with non-systematic and non-stationary data ispresented. This methodology is being developed using new methodological approachesapplied to European countries as a part of a European Commission funded project (SPHERE).     

Impact of Flood Disasters on Taiwan in the Last Quarter Century

The increasing natural disasters, especially floods during the last quarter century, are raising the economic losses in Taiwan. The most severe hazard in Taiwan is flooding induced by typhoons and storms in summer and autumn. By comparing the rivers around the world, the ones in Taiwan have the steepest slopes, the largest discharge per unit drainage area, and the shortest time of concentrations. Rapid urbanization without proper land uses managements usually worsen the flood problems. Consequently, flood hazards mitigation has become the most essential task for Taiwan to deal with. Although the government keeps improving flood defense structures, the flood damage grows continuously. In this article, possible flood mitigation strategies are identified for coping with complex environmental and social decisions with flood risk involved.     

What do people think about the flood risk? An experience with the residents of Talcahuano city,Chile

In the province of Concepción (Chile), floods are considered one of the main natural hazards. One of the most important cities of this area is Talcahuano. During the last years, Talcahuano has been affected by a number of flood episodes, as a consequence of an increase in the frequency of extraordinary atmospheric events, along with a higher exposure to the flood risk caused by an intense urban development. On 27 February 2010, an 8.8° earthquake (Richter scale) occurred in central southern Chile and originated the tsunami which flooded a large percentage of the residential area and military base of the Talcahuano city. This flood event affected a population higher than 180,000 people (including 23 casualties and invaluable economic and environmental losses). The objective of this study is to investigate the social perception and knowledge of Talcahuano residents affected by different types of flood, including tsunami, emphasizing which are their risks, vulnerability, resilience and coping capacity concepts. In addition, the kind of measures that have been proposed to improve their capacity to face floods after having suffered the natural disaster will be determined. This social assessment has been carried out based on a survey to permanent residents. Research results reveal that their endogenous and exogenous characteristics have resulted determinant to explain their perception.     

Seismic risk assessment and mapping at different levels

In 2012, the damage costs of floods in Russia amounted to about €300m, and these floods have caused nearly 200 fatalities (Kotlyakov et al. in Reg Res Rus 3(1):32–39, 2013). Risk assessment is one of the most pressing scientific topics in Russia, but most of the works are devoted to natural hazards assessment. The purpose of this work is to estimate the influence of hazardous hydrological phenomena on society. The field research was conducted in the Slavyansk municipal district in the Krasnodar region (the south-western part of Russia), which is a highly populated coastal territory with a high frequency of hazardous hydrological events. Modified methods of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Affairs for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM) were used for potential economic damage calculation. The paper did not only focus on direct, tangible risks, but also included social risk (i.e. risk to life and health). Social vulnerability has been calculated directly as a percentage of vulnerable people, estimated in opinion polls, while in many recent papers the social vulnerability index was calculated as a combination of several statistical indicators. The resulting percentage of vulnerable people was converted to numbers of potential victims. Finally, the social risk was expressed by financial indicators in terms of the cost of the value of statistical life lost (Mrozek and Taylor in J Policy Anal Manag 21(2):253–270, 2002; Viscusi and Aldy in J Risk Uncertain 27(1):5–76, 2003). Social risk can be underestimated in comparison with economic risk because of a low “value of life” in Russia (no life insurance, neglecting of basic safety rules, etc.) (Guriev in Myths of economics, Alpina Business Books, Moscow, 2009).     

A Historical Record of Coastal Floods in Britain: Frequencies and Associated Storm Tracks

This paper examines flood frequencies in three coastal sectors of Britain and analyses the associated storm tracks and their principal pathways. The results indicate that the east coast of Britain has suffered most floods over the last 200 years. The frequencies of flood incidents in the south and southwest coast of Britain have increased, particularly during the 20th century, whereas on the west coast flood frequencies have declined. Three distinctive pathways of storm track are identified, related to flood incidents in each coastal sector. A southern pathway in a corridor along the 55° N parallel is associated with flood incidents recorded on the south and southwest coast, whilst storms that are associated with floods on the west coast concentrate along the 60° N parallel. The relationship between the frequencies of floods and climatic variations needs to be explored further. However, the development of coastal settlements has certainly increased vulnerability, and hence the risk of flood disasters.     

浅析甘肃小流域分布特性及山洪灾害成灾特点

暴雨洪水是自然界的主要灾害之一,它是水文现象的极端事件。山洪给国民经济和人民的生命财产造成很大损失,它是甘肃经济社会发展的重要制约因素之一。随着经济发展,人口增加,山洪给国民经济和社会发展带来的损失将越来越大,因此,防洪减灾任务仍十分艰巨。本文对甘肃省小流域分布特性及山洪成灾特点进行了分析,并提出了山洪灾害防治的建议。     

淮河流域近500年洪旱事件演变特征分析

为了认识淮河流域过去500年洪旱事件发生规律并鉴别当前的洪旱情势,收集并对比分析了流域实测降雨资料、重建历史雨季降雨资料、历史旱涝等级资料、历史洪旱文献记录和历史调查洪水资料等多源洪旱灾害数据。以重建历史雨季降雨资料和历史旱涝等级资料为主要依据,通过滑动平均、频率计算、小波分析和突变检验等方法,分析流域过去500年洪水干旱时空分布特征和演变规律。结果表明,17世纪淮河流域洪旱灾害最严重,但20世纪极端洪旱事件发生频次最多。淮河流域洪旱事件存在40年左右的稳定长周期,主周期从18世纪的15~20年逐渐减少到19世纪的5年周期,近20年来出现2~3年的主周期,洪旱灾害事件呈增加趋势,流域社会经济发展面临着严峻的洪旱灾害威胁。     

Spatial heterogeneity of local flood vulnerability indicators within flood-prone areas in Taiwan

Global environmental change is bringing extreme precipitation, and the combination of natural and artificial impacts are resulting in serious floods on the west coast of Taiwan. Disparity in social, economic and infrastructure resources contributes to spatial variation in the vulnerability to flood disaster. Owing to the high frequency of torrential rain and serious land subsidence in the study area, this paper attempts to categorize vulnerability indicators under varied assumptions of spatial homogeneity and spatial heterogeneity. The results show that the spatial heterogeneity indeed affects the distribution of flood vulnerability indicators. The core value of this article is that it measures the improvement from using geographically weighted statistics rather than traditional statistics. For the flood vulnerability discussion, this paper demonstrates the importance of considering spatial heterogeneity when allocating resources against floods.     

Hydrological impact of forest fires and climate change in a Mediterranean basin

Forest fire can modify and accelerate the hydrological response of Mediterranean basins submitted to intense rainfall: during the years following a fire, the effects on the hydrological response may be similar to those produced by the growth of impervious areas. Moreover, climate change and global warming in Mediterranean areas can imply consequences on both flash flood and fire hazards, by amplifying these phenomena. Based on historical events and post-fire experience, a methodology to interpret the impacts of forest fire in terms of rainfall-runoff model parameters has been proposed. It allows to estimate the consequences of forest fire at the watershed scale depending on the considered burned area. In a second stage, the combined effect of forest fire and climate change has been analysed to map the future risk of forest fire and their consequence on flood occurrence. This study has been conducted on the Llobregat river basin (Spain), a catchment of approximately 5,000 km² frequently affected by flash floods and forest fires. The results show that forest fire can modify the hydrological response at the watershed scale when the burned area is significant. Moreover, it has been shown that climate change may increase the occurrence of both hazards, and hence, more frequent severe flash floods may appear.     

新疆阿尔泰山地区极端水文事件对气候变化的响应

新疆北部阿尔泰山地区受西风带气流影响, 降水丰沛, 尤其冬季积雪厚而稳定, 山区产流发育了额尔齐斯河与乌伦古河, 从西到东形成主要支流十余条. 在全球气候变化下, 山区气温上升明显, 极端降水增多, 气候变暖带来的水循环加快, 极端水文事件也趋于增多. 由于冬季气温升高, 春季积雪消融提前, 春季融雪洪水提前, 洪峰流量增强; 夏季极端降水增加, 使得暴雨洪水增多. 由于冬、 春季积雪增多, 雪灾发生频率增加, 春季的融雪洪水灾害危害增强. 极端水文事件引起的自然灾害已经威胁到阿勒泰地区的牧业生产、 交通安全和水资源供给, 应加强水文水资源安全对气候变化的应对措施, 提高水资源安全保障, 减缓气候变化的危害.     

Modeling the risk assessment of landslide-dammed lakes based on the emergency response measures in Wenchuan earthquake, 2008, China

With the rapid development of urbanization and climate change, the frequency and degree of the natural hazards and extreme weather events have increased, such as the earthquake, flood, and torrential rain. And the landslide-dammed lake as the secondary disaster of these hazards has become a major threat to many countries. So from twentieth century, many countries have begun to explore the effective emergency response method to reduce the danger of the landslide-dammed lake to the surrounded environment and people. Particularly in China, with successfully dealing with three high-risk landslide-dammed lakes in recent 10 years, the Chinese government has accumulated a great deal of experience in managing the landslide-dammed lakes. So in this paper, based on the Chinese and many other countries’ emergency response experience of successfully managing the landslide-dammed lakes, we build an outburst time–predicted model which can use the Dimensionless blockage index value to predict the outburst time of the landslide-dammed lakes. Based on the urgent time in the process of emergency response to the landslide-dammed lake, we build an integrated risk assessment model with the gray relational analysis and Technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution approach to evaluate the risk value and judge the risk level of the landslide-dammed lake from three aspects (the stability of the landslide-dammed lake, the hydrological environment, and the vulnerability factor of the surrounding environment). These two models can quickly and accurately determine the risk level of landslide-dammed lake in case of lack of complete and detailed data. So it would provide an important reference for government to make the scientific and effective emergency response plan to deal with the extremely high-risk landslide-dammed lake disasters in the future.     

Evaluating typical flood risks in Yangtze River Economic Belt: application of a flood risk mapping framework

The Yangtze River Economic Belt is one of the three national strategies of China, while flood risk is one of the most important concerns in the development of Yangtze River Economic Belt. In order to decrease the risks caused by floods, complete flood management system and adequate pre-arranged planning are desiderated to be researched in advance. This study considers two typical situations of flood risk, in which one is sluice-control situation in flood detention area and another is dike-break situation in flood-protected area, and proposes a framework for flood risk mapping. The results show that the losses caused by flood hazards are massive both in the two typical cases when extreme floods happen. The economic losses of different indicators are of great difference in flood detention area and flood-protected area, respectively. The framework effectively handles the complex boundaries in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and provides more accurate flood routing information. The evacuation plan module which has been incorporated in the framework also provides informative assistance for emergent action of evacuation under urgent condition.     

北京城市洪涝问题与成因分析

利用社会经济统计数据和水文气象资料,探讨城市化背景下北京城市洪涝特征、形成机制及影响因素。近50年来城市内涝逐渐成为北京洪涝灾害的主要类型,随着城市化迅猛发展,城市内涝积水点数量在时间上表现为显著增加趋势,在空间上呈现出由内环逐步向外环扩张趋势,与城市化发展空间格局关系密切。从水循环的角度分析城市洪涝形成机制,指出区域气候变化和城市化发展改变了城市降水格局,汛期降水量和极端降水事件呈现下降趋势,但城区短历时强降水事件呈现增加态势;城市化发展改变了区域下垫面条件、城市流域产汇流特性和城市排水格局,进而影响了区域水循环过程和水量分配,在一定程度上增加了城市洪涝灾害风险;同时城市基础设施建设水平不足、排水排涝标准偏低、应急管理能力不足等因素,导致城市洪涝发生风险增加,降低了城市洪涝综合应对能力。     

An approach for measuring social vulnerability in context: The case of flood hazards in Muzarabani district,Zimbabwe

Understanding the complexity of vulnerability to disasters, including those triggered by floods, droughts and epidemics is at the heart of disaster risk reduction. Despite its importance in disaster risk reduction, there remains a paucity of approaches that contribute to our understanding of social vulnerability that is hidden in dynamic contextual conditions. The study demonstrates an accessible means to assessing the spatial variation of social vulnerability to flood hazards and related for the context of Muzarabani district in northeast Zimbabwe. The study facilitated local identification with residents of variables contributing to social vulnerability and used the principal component analysis (PCA) technique to develop a social vulnerability index (SoVI). Using ArcMap10.2 geographic information systems (GIS) tool, the study mapped composite SoVI at the ward level. The results showed that Muzarabani district is socially vulnerable to hazards. The social vulnerability is influenced by a variety of economic, social and institutional factors that vary across the wards. Quantifying and visualising social vulnerability in Muzarabani provides useful information for decision makers to support disaster preparedness and mitigation programmes. The approach shows how spatially distributed multivariate vulnerability, as grounded in interpretations at local level, can be quantitatively derived for contexts such as those of Muzarabani. The study findings can inform disaster risk reduction communities and cognate disciplines on quantitative assessments for managing hazard vulnerability where these have hitherto not been developed.     

Hydroclimatological Perspective of the Kerala Flood of 2018

Flood is among the deadliest disasters in India, and the frequency of floods and extreme precipitation events is projected to increase under the warming climate. The frequency of floods in India varies geographically as some regions are more prone to floods than the others. The Kerala flood of 2018 caused enormous economic damage, affected millions of people, and resulted in the death of more than 400 people. Here we provide a hydroclimatological perspective on the Kerala flood of 2018. Using the observations and model simulations from the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, we show that the 2018 extreme precipitation and runoff conditions that caused flooding were unprecedented in the record of the past 66 years (1951–2017). Our results show that mean monsoon precipitation has significantly declined while air temperature has significantly increased during 1951–2017 in Kerala. The drying and warming trends during the monsoon season resulted in a declined total runoff in large part of the state in the last 66 years. Apart from the mean hydroclimatic conditions, extreme precipitation, and extreme total runoff have also declined from 1951 to 2017. However, 1 and 2-day extreme precipitation and extreme runoff conditions in August 2018 exceeded substantially from the long-term 95^th percentiles recorded during 1951–2017. Since there is no increase in mean and extreme precipitation in Kerala over the last six decades, the extreme event during August 2018 is likely to be driven by anomalous atmospheric conditions due to climate variability rather anthropogenic climate warming. The severity of the Kerala flood of 2018 and the damage caused might be affected by several factors including land use/land cover change, antecedent hydrologic conditions, reservoir storage and operations, encroachment of flood plains, and other natural factors. The impacts of key drivers (anthropogenic and natural) on flood severity need to be established to improve our understanding of floods and associated damage.     

An integrated flood risk assessment model for property insurance industry in Taiwan

Taiwan is located in an area affected by Northwest Pacific typhoons, which are also one of the most important sources of rainfall to the island. Unfortunately, the abundant rainfall brought by typhoons frequently produces hazards. In recent years, typhoons and floods have caused serious damage, especially Typhoon Morakot in 2009. In this study, a probabilistic model is developed based on historical events which can be used to assess flood risk in Taiwan. There are 4 separate modules in this model, including a rainfall event module, a hydraulic module, a vulnerability module, and a financial loss module. Local data obtained from the Taiwan government are used to construct this model. Historical rainfall data for typhoon and flood events that have occurred since 1960, obtained from the Central Weather Bureau, are used for computing the maximum daily rainfall for each basin. In addition, the latest flood maps from the Water Resources Agency are collected to assess the probable inundation depth. A case study using the local data is carried out. Assessment is made to predict possible economic loss from different financial perspectives such as the total loss, insured loss, and loss exceeding probabilities. The assessment results can be used as a reference for making effective flood risk management strategies in Taiwan.     

Analysis of flash flood disaster characteristics in China from 2011 to 2015

Flash floods are one of the most disastrous natural hazards and cause serious loss of life and economic damage every year. Flooding frequently affects many regions in China, including periodically catastrophic events. An extensive compilation of the available data has been conducted across various hydroclimatological regions to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of flash floods in China. This inventory includes over 782 documented events and is the first step toward establishing an atlas of extreme flash flood occurrences in China. This paper first presents the data compilation strategy, details of the database contents, and the typical examples of first-hand analysis results. The subsequent analysis indicates that the most extreme flash floods originate mainly from small catchments over complex terrains and results in dominantly small- and medium-sized flooding events in terms of scales; however, these events, abrupt and seasonally recurrent in nature, account for a large proportion of the overall flooding-related disasters, especially disproportionately affecting elderly and youth populations. Finally, this study also recommends several immediate measures could be implemented to mitigate high impacts of deadly flash floods, although it still requires long-term significant efforts to protect human life and property in a country like China.     

Putting adaptive capacity into the context of people’s lives: a case study of two flood-prone communities in Puerto Rico

Recent developments in the vulnerability literature have contested the use of technical solutions as the sole adaptive strategies to reduce natural hazard impact; this literature emphasizes the need to attend to the wider everyday risks to which people are exposed and that aggravate hazard vulnerability. Using a case study of two flood-prone communities in Puerto Rico, this article supports and enhances that literature by placing floods within a wider context of other risks and determining how everyday risks influence people’s perceptions of and capacity to adapt to floods. Participatory methods are used to elicit the everyday risks that concern community members. The analysis reveals that participants perceive floods as one of their risks, but they see them as neither the most important nor most severe risk in their lives. Instead, they find other concerns—health conditions, family well-being, economic factors, and land tenure—more pressing. These competing risks limit adaptive capacity and increase vulnerability to natural hazards. The results suggest that addressing these multiple risks, mainstreaming flood management and adaptation into the wider context of people’s general well being, and increasing risk perception will strengthen adaptive capacity to present and future floods.