Current Flood Risk Management Research Articles

Current flood risk management: gaps and perspectives in Stung Sen Catchment, Cambodia

ABSTRACT People who live in Cambodia's flood-prone areas are at a heightened risk of experiencing a flood disaster due to climate change and urbanization. Annual flood disasters have an impact on the Stung Sen River Basin, the largest tributary river of Tonle Sap Lake. Through interviews with pertinent stakeholders, we investigate the current gaps in flood control risk management at the Stung Sen Catchment, the national to local levels. At a common level, the Kampong Kor, Kampong Svay, and Meanchey were selected for the interview and field survey. The findings highlight that a top-down approach is used to alert locals about potential flood danger. The results emphasized the difficulties in addressing cross-border flood warning issues, the effects of incorrect urbanization development and climate change on vulnerable populations, and the inadequate readiness for the safety of children in flood-prone locations. Consequently, we suggest the integrated flood risk management framework as a very effective way to lessen the impact of flood risk for both present and future flood risk harm.

Development of Green Disaster Management Toolkit to Achieve Carbon Neutrality Goals in Flood Risk Management

Current flood risk management projects have been criticized for their high carbon emissions, raising the need for carbon emission reduction and carbon absorption efforts to mitigate environmental impacts and achieve carbon neutrality goals. The research develops a comprehensive green disaster risk management toolkit to calculate the carbon emissions and absorption quantitatively based on the unit volume of materials and processes employed in a flood risk management project. As a result of applying the developed toolkit to a about 22,300 small stream restoration projects in Korea, the total carbon emissions were estimated to be 1,158,840.7 tons of CO2, of which 89.4% of the total carbon emissions originated from concrete-related construction activities, such as cement and ready-mixed concrete pouring. As a result of evaluating the nationwide carbon absorption results of all small stream restoration projects, total absorption by 2030 is expected to be 3.0 to 10.2 times higher than carbon emissions. The comprehensive toolkits are expected to support the selection of customized processes, materials, and methods by providing a systematic approach to calculate and minimize carbon emissions, ultimately contributing to the achievement of carbon neutrality goals in flood risk management projects.

The F word: The experiential construction of flooding in England

In England, flood risk management policy constructs flooding through its physical impacts. Whilst research is starting to reveal the mental health impacts of flooding, it stops short of understanding the experience of being flooded and what this means in terms of understanding the F-word, flooding. Yet for flood communities, the emotional impacts of flooding can prevail for years, if not a lifetime.For people who have been flooded, flooding seeps into every facet of life. It removes the security and safety of home creating instead places of fear, stress, and anxiety. Within this paper we lay bare the emotional impacts of flooding, demonstrating the effect that home unmaking and the cyclical need for home remaking, has on individuals, their quality of life, and revealing the long-term emotional impact of living at risk of flooding.We finish by seeking ways to support communities living at risk of flooding, challenging current flood risk management policy, and identifying how it could be strengthened through understanding these emotional impacts. We propose supporting communities through the emotional turmoil of flooding can help provide hope and restore quality of life to those who live at risk of flooding.

The impact of demographic developments on flood risk management systems in rural regions in the Alpine Arc

Demographic trends across Europe indicate that many regions face sustained population decline due to aging and out-migration. Rural regions are often prone to flood hazards and have repeatedly been affected by damaging events in the past. However, we lack in-depth knowledge about how demographic trends challenge their capacities, abilities, and plans to manage flood risks. In this paper, we aim to close this gap. We employed a mixed-methods approach in the Gailtal-region in Carinthia (Austria), which combines the assessment of exposure to flood risk, social vulnerability, coping ability and adaptation capacity, as well as a discourse analysis. This comprehensive approach was designed to assess how demographic change impacts flood risk management. The findings do not support the hypothesis that population decline increases communities’ social vulnerability and reduces their coping ability and adaptation capacity. Additionally, the selected municipalities showed a strong increase in exposure. This is an example of the exposure paradox, which describes the phenomenon that settlement and population dynamics are not interconnected at all, especially in regions with a limited share of suitable land. Finally, our results show that current flood risk management and the corresponding social and political discourse mainly neglect the challenge of population decline. Overall, this study indicates that public administrations need to address the challenges of weak communities in flood risk management and consider how they might empower local authorities and citizens to adapt to future events – in full consideration of the demographic trends they have to expect.

Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use and Flood Risk Based on a Coupled Hydrological–Hydraulic Model: A Case Study of Zhaojue River Basin in Southwestern China

As an ecological consequence of intensified anthropogenic activities, more frequent extreme rainfalls have resulted in significant increases in water levels and discharge in southwestern China. This phenomenon presents a significant challenge in flood risk and ecological management. Land use is one of the major factors significantly affecting the flooding process, and it is inextricably tied to the ecological risk of floods. Hence, flood risk estimates based on land use are essential for flood control and land use planning. In this study, a coupled hydrologic–hydraulic model was developed to analyze the relationship between flood ecological risk and land use in order to provide new insights into current flood risk management practices. Ten real flood events (of different magnitudes) in the Zhaojue river basin (650 km2) were chosen to evaluate the credibility and performance of the coupled model’s application. Promising results were obtained, with sufficient reliability for flood risk assessment purposes. The results of our flood risk analysis also indicated that the model effectively reproduced overland flow and competently accounted for flood evolution. This work is significant in the understanding of the mechanism of the flood process and its relationship with land use, and it can be used in decision support for the prevention and mitigation of flood disasters and for land use planning.

Making Room for Our Forthcoming Rivers

This paper provides a schematic, conceptual trip across a set of paradigms that can be adopted to design flood control actions and the associated river setting, including the space allocated to the river. By building on such paradigms, it eventually delineates an integrated approach to identify a socially desirable river setting, under a climate changing reality. The key point addressed is that when residual Risk and Operation, Management and Replacement costs are considered to their full extent, even a basic economic analysis may suggest alternative river settings that can be more attractive, particularly if accompanied by suitable economic-administrative management measures. Emphasis is put on the deep uncertainty characterizing the whole decision problem and on the need for a drastic change of paradigm. The approach proposed can greatly improve current Flood Risk Management Plans responding to the European Flood Directive (Directive 2007/60/EC). It can also help to develop constructive dialogues with stakeholders, while enhancing the understanding of the problem. Although mainly intended to address a conceptual level, it also aims at providing an applicable method.

Tailored flood risk management: Accounting for socio-economic and cultural differences when designing strategies

Climate change and socio-economic development result in increasing flood risk which challenges flood risk management policy making and practice. Each situation, however, is different and calls for not only understanding the natural context, but also the socio-economic and cultural context. Only then Flood Risk Management strategies can be designed that are not only 1) fit for purpose but also 2) feasible for local implementation and 3) sustainable into the future. Flood consequences that are accepted in some cultures (fatalist), may not be acceptable in other cultures (controlist). This calls for considering the local normative context in order to understand current differences in policy and practice. More importantly, the design of strategic alternatives for Flood Risk Management into the future should consider this socio-economic and cultural context as well because not every society aims for the same goals in the same proportion, nor is equally willing or capable to implement and maintain sophisticated infrastructure and dedicated institutions. Based on literature on cultural theory and national cultures, we hypothesized that acknowledging socio-economic and cultural differences would allow to better appreciate the rationale of current flood risk management policies and practices in different parts of the world. By analysing cases related to Deltares projects abroad, we explored whether these factors explain the main differences observed. Based on this preliminary exploration, we propose a shortlist of factors to consider when designing future flood risk management strategies tailored to local socio-economic and cultural contexts.

Dendrohydrological Reconstructions Based on Tree-Ring Width (TRW) Chronologies of Narrow-Leaved Ash in the Sava River Basin (Croatia)

Current flood risk management is based on statistical models and assessments of the risk of occurrence over a given time period, although with very short measurement periods, usually following catastrophic events. Ongoing monitoring of basic hydrological (river-water level and streamflow) and climate data are the basis for sustainable water management and long-term flood control planning. The lack of data has proven to be particularly negative during this period of global climate change, when non-seasonal flooding (during summer) is becoming increasingly frequent, and the resulting damage greater. The aim of this study was to analyse the possible use of tree ring width chronologies of trees growing in floodplain areas to reconstruct hydrodynamic variables (river-water level and streamflow). The study analysed the influence of climatic and hydrological variables on the growth of narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl) in the Sava River basin. The results indicate the significant potential of narrow-leaved ash tree-ring width chronologies to reconstruct the summer streamflows of the Sava River (R2 = 0.45). These results can serve to develop long-term data series on the summer streamflows of the river, thereby enabling better insight into its spatial and temporal dynamics with the goal of more successful, sustainable management of floodplain areas.

Mountain Riverine Floods in Ecuador: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities

Increasing urbanization and development along rivers, together with climate change, exacerbate future flood risk in Ecuador. Current policy strategies in the highlands greatly need improvement. Politicians must rethink if the governmental environmental institutions and inhabitants of the highlands are prepared to respond to future small- and large-scale flood episodes. The purpose of this paper is to identify the issues facing flood risk management (FRM) in the Ecuadorian highlands with a view to finding approaches for overcoming them. We focus on three specific concerns: an assessment of the deficiencies of current flood risk management, the development of diverse strategies to combat flooding, and the need for an overarching vision for future actions and research. These are presented within a theoretical framework together with the authors’ recommendations of adaptation options for Ecuador’s newly emerging flood challenges. Traditional and novel flood risk management approaches are required, including smart land-use planning, implementation of structural and non‐structural measures, coordinated water governance systems with public participation, and the development and improvement of resilience to flooding. Moreover, academic input is a fundamental component of FRM to fill current knowledge gaps regarding mountain floods. This article addresses further research developments that are required to articulate and enable targeted FRM. To our knowledge, no previous publication has specifically dealt with FRM issues in the Ecuadorian highlands, thus, an overview of the current status of FRM is necessary. It is hoped that the challenges associated with flood management discussed here can be addressed over time.

Current flood risk management practices in Ghana: Gaps and opportunities for improving resilience

AbstractThis article evaluates the current gaps and describes opportunities for improving flood risk management (FRM) in Ghana, West Africa. A mixed‐method participatory approach comprising questionnaires, workshops, interviews with key stakeholders, and a systematic literature review were employed. Existing problems, discourses, FRM practices, and opportunities to enhance flood resilience were identified. They provided the basis for outlining potential research directions into ways of tracking these challenges. The results show how different actors perceive FRM in Ghana. The stakeholders interviewed have different, and even contradictory perceptions of the effectiveness of FRM, which are embedded in their diverse storylines. The findings show that Ghana's FRM is still reactive rather than preventive and that research in the field of quantitative hazard and risk assessment is still rudimentary. FRM policies and flood early warning systems (FEWS) are in place, but efforts should be directed towards their implementation and monitoring, investigation of social and technical capacity aspects, and enhancement of institutions’ mandates, and coordination. Moreover, the findings illustrate that FRM is moving toward a more constructive engagement of citizens and stakeholders. However, policies and action plans need to consider more inclusive community participation in planning and management to effectively improve their resilience and develop sustainable solutions.

Risk communication and adaptive behaviour in flood-prone areas of Austria: A Q-methodology study on opinions of affected homeowners.

Adaptive behaviour has become a crucial aspect in current flood risk management strategies across the globe, especially in response to potential consequences of flood hazards and facing challenges of climate change. There are several factors which influence the motivation to implement flood risk management strategies such as property-level flood risk adaptation (PLFRA) measures. This paper assesses and evaluates the role of risk communication, which is a vital and overarching driver or barrier in the successful implementation of PLFRA measures. We explored this issue through a bootstrapped Q-methodology with 20 residents in the urban area of Graz, Austria, who have been affected by flood events in the past. Additionally, semi-structured interviews concerning risk communication were conducted with the participants to understand the preferred risk communication modes. The results show that respondents have a high level of perceived self-efficacy (most have implemented PLFRA measures), that there is general distrust in public protection measures and that there is a high understanding of residual risk. Considering the communication modes preferred by a majority of respondents, face-to-face interaction with unbiased experts is more attractive than online applications. Additionally, citizens want to be engaged in decision-making processes concerning public protection measures in their area. This calls for participatory processes in flood risk management which involve mutual knowledge transfer and social learning.

Perceptions and deeply held beliefs about responsibility for flood risk adaptation in Accra Ghana

PurposeClimate change is predicted to increase the vulnerability of urban populations to flood hazards. Against this backdrop, flood risk adaptation has become pertinent. However, in Ghana, current flood risk management practice is fostered by a reactive culture. There is limited research on how communities and government agencies are engaging with flood risk adaptation in improving resilience. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the culture of communities and agencies through the cultural theory of risk (CTR), towards understanding the flood risk adaptation in Accra, Ghana. Culture is deciphered using the beliefs held by residents and public agency officials.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative methodology, underpinned by the constructivist paradigm, was adopted to understand factors that influence flood risk adaptation in informal settlements. Data was gathered using household and institutional interviews in Glefe, Accra, Ghana.FindingsThe results show that both disaster risk management institutions and community members are deeply concerned about current and future flood risk. However, their cultural beliefs concerning flood risk and adaptation are contradictory, broadly framed by fatalist, individualist and hierarchist beliefs. The contradictory emergent beliefs contribute to a clash of expectations and create uncertainty about how to respond to flood risk, impacting the implementation of required adaptation measures. Developing a collaborative flood risk management framework and a shared understanding of adaptation approaches may be a better alternative.Originality/valueThis paper advances understanding of how culture influences flood risk adaptation in developing country context.

Making Birmingham a Flood Resilient City: Challenges and Opportunities

The city of Birmingham has experienced a number of significant flooding events in the past two decades. The impacts of these flood events include physical damage to critical infrastructure, as well as significant losses caused by business interruption and general disruption to communities. Human losses and impacts can be life changing. This study identifies the current challenges and opportunities of managing flood risk in the city of Birmingham, drawing on a desk-based account of current flood risk management (FRM) practice and diagnostic evidence. This interrogation adopts the use of a ‘flood resilience circle model’ to consider ways to address the challenges in a methodological manner aligned to an integrated approach to flood risk management. Solutions aligned to the key FRM stages of prevention, preparation, response and recovery are provided. The findings will be of interest to policy makers and decision makers on how to address current weaknesses in FRM practices towards the prospect of a sustainable approach that improves the resilience of the city and delivers multiple benefits. Recommendations made include the adoption of a blue-green systems approach, the development of a new communication strategy aligned to motivating behaviour change, and improved flood forecasting especially for surface water flooding.

Accounting for the uncertain effects of hydraulic interactions in optimising embankments heights: Proof of principle for the IJssel River

AbstractMost alluvial plains in the world are protected by flood defences, for example, embankments, whose primary aim is to reduce the probability of flooding of the protected areas. At the same time, however, the presence of embankments at one area influences hydraulic conditions of downstream areas located on the same river. These hydraulic interactions are often neglected in current flood risk management. The aim of this study is to explicitly acknowledge hydraulic interactions and investigate their impact on establishing optimal embankment heights along a stretch of the IJssel River. We find that the current approach leads to a single solution, while taking into account hydraulic interactions substantially expands the number of promising solutions. Furthermore, under a reference scenario, the current approach is in fact suboptimal with respect to both downstream locations and the system as a whole. Under uncertainty, it performs adequately from a system viewpoint, but poorly for individual locations, mostly due to risk overestimation downstream. Overall, the current approach proves to be too short‐sighted, because spatial trade‐offs among locations are neglected and alternative solutions remain hidden. Acknowledging the effect of hydraulic interactions provides policy makers with a broader and more comprehensive spectrum of flood risk management strategies.

Flood risk management in the Canadian prairie provinces: Defaulting towards flood resistance and recovery versus resilience

Major flood events are likely to happen more frequently and be more severe under changing land use and climatic conditions. Adapting to floods using resilience-based flood risk management (FRM) policies and initiatives is a more appropriate solution than relying solely on flood defence structures or disaster recovery programmes. The primary authority for FRM in Canada is the provinces, but in practice, the policies and responsibilities are distributed across complex, multi-departmental, multi-scalar systems of government. To examine the extent to which institutional arrangements for FRM facilitate or constrain FRM resilience, this paper uses a case study of FRM policies, instruments and practices in the three Canadian prairie provinces where floods have been particularly severe in recent years. Document analysis provided insights into current FRM policies and instruments while semi-structured interviews with 34 individuals working in an FRM capacity informed the roles and responsibilities for FRM implementation. Results indicate that the current FRM policies and instruments across the prairie region have the basic requirements for flood resilience. However, flood resilience is inherently challenged by institutional fragmentation, lack of clarity of FRM roles and responsibilities, and policy layering and competing mandates, which biases FRM towards resistance and recovery solutions. To go beyond solely coordinating flood emergency response and recovery, the paper suggests an overarching regional or national FRM strategy and boundary organisation to coordinate roles and responsibilities for the specific purpose of flood resilience. This requires an agency with the mandate to manage FRM policy instruments, and clearly allocate decision authority amongst the multiple levels and layers of FRM governance.

Social justice in the context of adaptation to climate change—reflecting on different policy approaches to distribute and allocate flood risk management

Editorial to a special edition of the journal. Consequences of extreme hydrological events, such as those recently experienced in United States (e.g. Hurricane Harvey or Irma in 2017), floods in South Asia in 2017, or the Central European floods in 2013 and 2016, have again focused the attention of society, policy makers and academic scholars on questions of how to reduce vulnerability to such events, especially when faced with the dual challenges of climate and societal change. Not only is the likelihood of floods increasing (e.g. IPCC 2014), but, due to continuing development in hazard-prone zones, the so called bullseye effect which argues that increasing disaster frequency is largely due to increasing exposure, and the resulting higher degree of vulnerability in floodplains, it becomes more and more challenging to protect all properties to the same standard (see discussion around residual risk, Ashley et al. 2014; Jongman et al. 2015; Fuchs et al. 2017a). Hence, the outcome of current flood risk management strategies in many situations are necessitating changes to the current social contract between state and society, requiring a re-design of the role of central government and individual citizens and communities in terms of sharing responsibilities (Adger et al. 2013; Doorn 2016). In particular, government often encourages society to take the lead in the responsibility for flood risk management, but apparently with conflicts and misunderstandings arising (Harris 2012; Kuhlicke et al. 2016; Fuchs et al. 2017b) as well as potentially introducing inequalities in flood risk management outcomes. In Europe, we can already observe these aspects in recent developments, which have led to a re-arrangement of roles and responsibilities for flood risk management, such as introduction of Partnership Funding in England and Wales or Canada ‘risk-based’ stormwater charge (Thaler and Priest 2014; Geaves and Penning-Rowsell 2016; Thaler and Levin-Keitel 2016; Henstra and Thistlethwaite 2017). However, discussion and research concerning the implications of social justice and injustice in these new flood risk management debates is scarce (Johnson et al. 2007; Doorn 2015; Thaler and Hartmann 2016).

Risky policies: Local contestation of mainstream flood risk management approaches in Ireland

In 2017, the idea that floods are exceptional and temporary episodes is a conviction increasingly contradicted by their growing incidence and severity across the globe. Floods have lasting consequences for affected populations and such effects can be wide-ranging depending on local context. However, prevailing misconceptions remain concerning the nature and effect of floods on populations. The advent of risk-based approaches is arguably responsible for a distinct managerial perspective on floods, which often undermines the local contexts and the impacts central to these experiences. This is observable in Ireland, the case study site for this article, where policy transitions into risk-based approaches are increasingly leading to growing discontent regarding the manner in which flooding and community vulnerabilities are represented. The matter is further complicated by the interplay between risk and conservation policy. This paper considers how these powerful discourses shape ideas and decisions around flooding. Using narrative-based data, centred on a case study in the west of Ireland, we explore the understanding and perception of flood risk and nature conservation by local communities and contrast these with the views expressed through managerial approaches linked to flood risk management and conservation. By bringing together these three distinct positions (i.e. the flood risk management approach, conservation practice and local narratives) we have found limitations in underlying assumptions informing current flood risk management approaches and we bring to light crucial human dimensions of flooding which, we argue, are consistently diluted and/or buried by fractured representations of environmental and social dynamics.

Recognising barriers to implementation of Blue-Green Infrastructure: a Newcastle case study

There is a recognised need for a fundamental change in how the UK manages urban water and flood risk in response to increasingly frequent rainfall events coupled with planned urban expansion. Approaches centred on ‘living with and making space for water’ are increasingly adopted internationally. Nonetheless, widespread implementation of Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) is currently hampered by barriers that impede uptake and innovation. We investigate the barriers to implementation of BGI in Newcastle, UK, through a series of semi-structured interviews with professional stakeholders. We identify and categorise 17 types of barrier and identify targeted strategies to overcome the dominant barriers. We recommend promotion of BGI’s capacity to meet the objectives of multiple organisations and Local Authority departments, in addition to managing urban water. We conclude that strong business cases, supported by monetised evidence of benefits, and collaborative, inter-agency working could advance implementation of BGI within the current flood risk management legislation.

Flood risk management in Nigeria: a review of the challenges and opportunities

Flooding has become a major hazard in Nigeria in recent years due to a growing population, rapid urbanization and extreme weather events. This study provides a critical review and characterisation flood risk management (FRM) practices in Nigeria with a view to highlighting current weaknesses and opportunities, as well as giving recommendations for practice and for further research. Databases of academic literature, covering a wide range of FRM issues, were systematically queried and mined using suitable keywords. A structured review of the resulting literature was carried out and several past flood events and associated responses reviewed as case studies. Absence of integrated FRM systems, lack of inter agency coordination, substandard and weak infrastructures, inadequate drainage network, high urban poverty, low level literacy, cultural barriers and weak institutions characterize current FRM practices. The study recommends the adoption of an integrated approach to urban infrastructural development starting with a review of ongoing and planned infrastructural systems and projects with a view to optimizing their FRM capabilities while still meeting their intended purposes. The empowerment of more entrepreneurs into FRM solutions development and service delivery as well as the inclusion of FRM concepts and practices into the nation’s educational curricula was also recommended. Nigeria also needs a multidisciplinary platform for generating effective strategic policies and efficient operational mechanisms for FRM.

Flood Risk Management as a public or a private good, and the implications for stakeholder engagement

A move to encourage partnership funding of Flood Risk Management (FRM) has resulted in current FRM measures providing both public and private benefits. Yet, the scales of service delivery associated with public and private goods are likely to influence the form and extent of public participation in FRM. We assess the range of goods provided by FRM, whether these services are considered to be public in nature by authorities and citizens, and the impact this has upon the level and form of public engagement in FRM. We separate the definitions of public goods into ‘pure’ public goods which demonstrate characteristics of non-rivalry and non-excludability, and public priority goods which are services deemed as essential to public wellbeing regardless of characteristics. We find that English FRM delivers a range of public goods beyond that of reduced water flows, and that when FRM is considered a ‘pure’ public good the emergent form of public participation does not increase public awareness of flood risk or encourage investment in private protection measures. When the benefits of FRM are solely considered public priority goods public awareness of flood risk increases, yet disputes arise regarding service provision and maintenance. Importantly, increased flood risk from climate change or increased runoff could lead to the capacity of the public good provision being exceeded, leading to problems of distribution of that service, and reactionary pressure group formation. We argue that the current preference for public goods which reduce individual costs at the expense of public awareness can discourage adaptation, which may be problematic in ensuring sustainable FRM.