Flooding Hazards and Risk Analysis in the Pearl River Delta, China

Abstract

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) of southern China is known for its complex river networks and low lying terrain. The rapid population growth and economic development make this area vulnerable to flood events. This chapter briefly describes the flood hazards, assess their flood risk, and illustrate the local defense strategies and key infrastructures. The first section is a general introduction to the geographic feature and climatic setting. The second section illustrates the heavy precipitation, the river fluvial floods and the flood defense infrastructures in the Bei Jiang catchment. The third section describes the urban pluvial floods in Guangzhou, including the main urban flood types, storm features, drainage modeling, and flood hazards. The fourth section discusses storm surges and coastal floods, including flood types, storm surge flood hazards, a typical coastal flood defense in Zhongshan, and four extreme typhoon and storm surge events occurred in the 21st century. The last section is a summary. Overall, most cities in the PRD region are facing severe flood hazards under the protection of levees. More thorough and quantitative analyses are required to better understand the local specific flood hazards and risk.