Populations in urban environments are extremely mobile throughout the day and in various weather conditions; accounting for this pedestrian mobility and security becomes of high importance. Research into the security and stability of the pedestrian environment under exposure to critical water flows provides an essential knowledge base with which the associated hazard unto them can be critically evaluated. This research seeks to analyse degrees of hazard in relation to persons exposed to high volume rain events in urban areas. Several human trials of critical urban flows were conducted in order to determine the stability limits of pedestrians, crossing through a water flow in a real scale physic model. Additionally, the critical first step from a dry footpath into fast flowing water is considered and an assessment of the tested subjects' emotional responses when entering and crossing flooded roadways was carried out. Results from this study are compared with various proposed human stability criteria as well as alternatives proposed in other written works. The presented study offers a stability threshold focused on shallow depths and high velocity conditions, the most common urban flooding conditions. Keywords: Urban flood risk; hazard; drainage system; pedestrian stability. 11When designing drainage systems, the dual drainage concept should be considered (Djordjevic 12 et al. 1999; Nasello and Tucciarelli 2005; Concha and Gómez 2009; Nanía et al. 2015 Table 3. 150Critical storm events do not occur in a regimented manner, they can occur at any time of day. 188 High hazard: The tested subject lost stability completely. 189 Medium hazard: The tested subject showed a great difficulty in carrying out the complete 190 protocol. The subject needed to make a great effort. Slowness, stumbles, slips and a loss of one 191 or both shoes were other issues to consider a case as a medium hazard. 192 Low hazard: Small or inestimable instabilities were observed. The tested subject was able to 193 carry out the complete protocol without any inconvenience. 201In a total of 2345 assessed test cases, the number of high hazard scenarios, determined through a 202 complete loss of stability, amounted to 38, 1.6% of the total cases. This may seem as a very low number 203 of cases, however, the assessment of a high hazard situation was very rigorous and only account for 204 instances where there was a complete loss of stability and fall (Figure 8). There were multiple instances 205 where subjects lost balance but were able to recover their footing and continue without having fallen. 206These scenarios are classified as medium hazard as no fall occurred. 220The answers regarding the main points are summarized and listed below: 221(1) Discomfort caused by the safety equipment: All the respondents agreed that the comfort of the 222 safety equipment was good enough and it did not prevent to them from carrying out the tests 223 naturally. 224(2) Duration of the tests: The tests duration was adequate according to mo...

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Urban water journal on 2017, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1573062X.2017.1301501A vehicle exposed to flooding, after losing stability, becomes buoyant and may be washed away with potential injuries and fatalities. Such vehicles cause additional disruption to traffic that is already affected by flooding, which may lead to substantial indirect economic impact, especially in urban areas. Therefore, the analysis of the stability of vehicles exposed to flooding is important in order to make decisions to reduce damages and hazards. In this research, based on an experimental campaign that included a range of twelve car models, a new methodology to obtain the stability threshold for any real vehicle exposed to flooding is developed. A stability coefficient (SCmod) is derived with which the vehicles can be sorted by stability against water flows and their stability functions may be determined. The experiments were conducted with three different model scales (1:14, 1:18 and 1:24) and involved analysis of both friction and buoyancy effects, which made this the most comprehensive research study to date. This methodology enables the definition of a stable area in the flow depth-velocity domain for any real vehicle. A tool is provided that decision-makers in the field of urban flood risk management can employ and after defining a design vehicle they can obtain its corresponding stability threshold.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Hazard conditions related to vehicular circulation are important in flood risk management. The knowledge of vehicles stability when those are exposed to flooding is crucial for an informed flood risk management in urban areas. After losing stability, the vehicle becomes buoyant and may be washed away with potential injuries and fatalities. Therefore, the analysis of the stability of vehicles exposed to flooding is important in order to make decisions to reduce the damages and hazards. Herein a comprehensive state‐of‐the‐art on stability of vehicles exposed to flooding is presented. The different studies have been gathered in experimental, theoretical and guidelines proposals and all of them focusing on parked vehicles. There is a clear need to conduct more research in this field by testing a greater variety of models in order to offer a more general methodology to define stability threshold for any vehicle exposed to flooding. Nevertheless, in this work, it has been demonstrate that the most safety stability criterion for vehicles exposed to flooding up to now is the proposed in the Guide AR&R.

Depth‒damage curves, also known as vulnerability curves, are an essential element of many flood damage models. A relevant characteristic of these curves is their applicability limitations in space and time. The reader will find firstly in this paper a review of different damage models and depth‒damage curve developments in the world, particularly in Spain. In the framework of the EU-funded RESCCUE project, site-specific depth‒damage curves for 14 types of property uses have been developed for Barcelona. An expert flood surveyor’s opinion was essential, as the occasional lack of data was made up for by his expertise. In addition, given the lack of national standardization regarding the applicability of depth‒damage curves for flood damage assessments in Spanish urban areas, regional adjustment indices have been derived for transferring the Barcelona curves to other municipalities. Temporal adjustment indices have been performed in order to modify the depth‒damage curves for the damage estimation of future flood events, too. This study attempts to provide nationwide applicability in flood damage reduction studies.