Decision-Support Tool for Retrofitable Flood Resilience

Abstract

Abstract Flooding is increasingly global challenge due to climate change and urban development practices. It can also be devastating to those affected. In the United Kingdom, it is projected that the number of people at high risk of flooding could rise from 1.5 to 3.5 million by 2080. Currently 400,000 homes and 75,000 businesses in England have an annual chance of flooding. In the UK, the Environment Agency provides useful information on flood risks for a given location. This information is supported with different guides by the local Councils on how to prepare for, and get help during flooding. What remains unclear and easy to access are customisable retrofit actions based on local flood risks, necessary for an individual or household to implement anticipatory retrofit actions, thereby improving the resilience of their homes. With this in mind, and knowing that studies about flood impacts focuses more on new construction or infrastructure solutions, this study aimed to provide a tangible solution to raise the awareness of people living in a flood area about the level of risk they are exposed to, and to aid decision-making about effective preventive solutions specifically designed for their house, in an autonomous way. The output is a decision-support tool developed to consolidate information about flood risks and present customised retrofit measures. The tool refers to the notions of damage and vulnerability of private housing to inform its operational diagnostic methodology. The output is a “to do list” of retrofitable work to increase resilience of the house against flood. 40 potential users evaluated and delivered positive feedback on the usefulness and functionality of the tool to raise awareness and improve resilience action. Future studies aim to fine-tune the tool and scale up the study.