Improved Framework for Assessing Vulnerability to Different Types of Urban Floods

Quntao Yang,Shuliang Zhang,Rui Yao,Qiang Dai

doi:10.3390/su12187668

Quntao Yang, Shuliang Zhang + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187668

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Abstract

Vulnerability assessment is an essential tool in mitigating the impact of urban flooding. To date, most flood vulnerability research has focused on one type of flood, such as a pluvial or fluvial flood. However, cities can suffer from urban flooding for several reasons, such as precipitation and river levee overtopping. Therefore, a vulnerability assessment considering different types of floods (pluvial floods, fluvial floods, and compound flooding induced by both rainfall and river overtopping) was conducted in this study. First, a coupled urban flood model, considering both overland and sewer network flow, was developed using the storm water management model (SWMM) and LISFLOOD-FP model to simulate the different types of flood and applied to Lishui, China. Then, the results of the flood modeling were combined with a vulnerability curve to obtain the potential impact of flooding on different land-use classes. The results indicated that different types of floods could have different influence areas and result in various degrees of flood vulnerability for different land-use classes. The results also suggest that urban flood vulnerability can be underestimated due to a lack of consideration of the full flood-induced factors.

Highlights

Floods are one of the most frequently occurring and destructive natural disasters, and often cause significant losses in cities, which are social and economic centers [1,2]
This study demonstrated an operable method of vulnerability assessment for different types of urban floods based on flood modeling and the vulnerability curve method
A 1D–2D coupled model combining storm water management model (SWMM) and LISFLOOD-FP was built to simulate the different types of floods and obtain the hazard characteristics of floods including flood depth and extent of inundation

Summary

Introduction

Floods are one of the most frequently occurring and destructive natural disasters, and often cause significant losses in cities, which are social and economic centers [1,2]. Due to global climate change, extreme hydrometeorological events result in more frequent and severe urban flooding [3,4,5]. Urbanization is taking place worldwide, and urban infrastructure, such as municipal drainage systems, cannot accommodate urban development and expansion. This has resulted in more frequent urban flooding and numerous social and economic problems [6,7,8,9]. Vulnerability assessments have great significance in revealing and reflecting the risk of urban flood disasters and have become an essential component of flood risk management in urban areas [13,14]

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