Flood Risk Assessment for Coastal Cities Considering Sea Level Rise due to Climate Change

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to present disaster prevention performance targets for Korean coastal cities, given the rise in sea level due to climate change. The disaster prevention performance targets for coastal cities are used to assess flood risk caused by increased sea levels. The proposed disaster prevention performance targets give additional consideration for design tide level or design flood level, which are design factors for hydraulic structures located along the coast. The rate of sea level rise in the West Sea was 0.61 ㎝/year. It was the fastest rise rate of all of Korea's seas. The sea level rise rate in the East Sea was calculated at 0.58 ㎝/year. This study also quantitatively confirmed that flood damage increases according to sea level rise using the United States' Environmental Protection Agency-Storm Water Management Model (EPA-SWMM). This study suggested a method for setting the disaster prevention performance targets of expected flood damage in coastal cities. Therefore, suggested disaster prevention performance targets should be highly specialized for coastal cities. However, sea level rise and rainfall are key factors that cause floods. Therefore, further research on disaster prevention in coastal cities should be carried out to consider the combined effects of sea level rise and rainfall.