Long-term experiences with pluvial flood risk management

Abstract

Abstract. The awareness of pluvial (rain-related) flood risk has grown significantly in the past few years but pluvial flooding is not handled with the same intensity throughout Europe. A variety of methods and modelling technologies are used to assess pluvial flood hazard and risk and to develop suggestions for flood mitigation measures. A brief overview of current model approaches is followed by the description of a modelling methodology that has been developed throughout the last 15 years with the focus on processing large scale areas. Experiences from several projects show that only high quality models of whole catchment areas yield results with enough accuracy to gain credibility among stakeholders, planners and the public. As a best practice example shows, the model approach also helps to plan effective decentral flood protection measures. To ensure successful flood risk management, a long-term preservation of flood risk awareness among local authorities and the public is necessary.

Large‐scale high‐resolution pluvial flood hazard mapping using the raster‐based hydrodynamic two‐dimensional model FloodAreaHPC

“…In this study, overland flow is modelled using FloodAr-eaHPC, a raster-based 2D hydrodynamic model which uses a simplified hydraulic approach and a high-resolution DTM as input data. The model was developed by the Geographic Information System (GIS) consulting company geomer GmbH in Heidelberg to calculate inundation areas for the Rhine Atlas (ICPR, 2014) and has since been used in numerous studies for flood plain, dike breach, and pluvial flood modelling (Anders et al, 2016;Assmann et al, 2009Assmann et al, , 2013Fritsch et al, 2016;Kropáček et al, 2015). It is designed as an ArcGIS extension and makes use of some Spatial Analyst functions, although the main processing core works independently from ArcGIS (Geomer, 2013).…”

Pluvial Flood Risk Assessment Tool (PFRA) for Rainwater Management and Adaptation to Climate Change in Newly Urbanised Areas

“…There are relatively few studies on pluvial flood damage evaluation and loss modelling [21,22]. There is no common methodology of pluvial flood hazard and risk mapping [33]. Astrom et al [32] identified a knowledge gap in understanding future climate change scenarios and projections in decision making processes.…”

Socio‐Environmental Vulnerability Mapping for Environmental and Flood Resilience Assessment: The Case of Ageing and Poverty in the City of Wrocław, Poland

“…Due to an increased concentration of property, higher flood hazards lead to potentially higher rates of economic losses (Olsen et al 2015;Hattarai et al 2016). The planning of resilient cities needs to be based on the best available knowledge of flood hazards (Fritsch et al 2016), on probable economic impacts understood as the total cost of a disaster to the community and the environment (Carrera et al 2015), and on the risk to human lives and safety. The planning of resilient cities needs to be based on the best available knowledge of flood hazards (Fritsch et al 2016), on probable economic impacts understood as the total cost of a disaster to the community and the environment (Carrera et al 2015), and on the risk to human lives and safety.…”

“…If our cities are to be more resilient and better able to cope with the consequences of urban floods, they are expected to adopt sustainable strategies for adaption to new climatic and socioeconomic conditions (Serre et al 2010). Such an analytical and decision-making tool should include hazard assessment and risk mapping, and should help understand the impacts of floods on human lives, the infrastructure, the transport system, and the property damage (Fritsch et al 2016). Flood resilience management should ideally be supported by risk assessment tools that allow making decisions in conditions with a certain degree of uncertainty.…”

“…If our cities are to be more resilient and better able to cope with the consequences of urban floods, they are expected to adopt sustainable strategies for adaption to new climatic and socioeconomic conditions (Serre et al 2010). The planning of resilient cities needs to be based on the best available knowledge of flood hazards (Fritsch et al 2016), on probable economic impacts understood as the total cost of a disaster to the community and the environment (Carrera et al 2015), and on the risk to human lives and safety. Flood resilience management should ideally be supported by risk assessment tools that allow making decisions in conditions with a certain degree of uncertainty.…”