Critical infrastructure network modelling for flood risk analyses: Approach and proof of concept in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

In flood risk analysis, it is state‐of‐the‐art to determine the direct consequences of flooding for assets and people. Flooding also disrupts critical infrastructure (CI) networks, which are vital in modern society. Cascading effects in a CI network can exceed the hydrological catchment boundaries. The effects of directly impacted CI cascade to other infrastructures, which are thus indirectly affected by a flood. A robust modelling approach of CI networks is a basis for including these effects in flood risk analysis. One challenge is to balance the simplicity of the modelling approach, the reproduction of a CI network's complexity and the decisions made based on potential model outputs. In this article, a topology‐based modelling approach of CI networks for catchment‐wide flood risk analyses is proposed. The basic model elements are points, connectors and polygons, which are utilised to represent a multisectoral and layered CI network. The newly defined approach is implemented as CI network module to the state‐of‐the‐art flood risk analysis framework ProMaIDes. It analyses the CI's direct and cascading impacts as well as the indirect disruption of CI services triggered by flooding scenarios. It quantifies the consequences by determining the number of disrupted CI users or the disruption time. A proof of concept in Accra, Ghana demonstrates the method's capabilities.

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