Flood Risk Perception Research Articles

Self-Rated Mental and Physical Health of U.S. Gulf Coast Residents.

Repeated exposure to hurricanes and tropical storms likely impacts the mental and physical health of populations living along the U.S. Gulf Coast. In this study, the self-rated physical and mental health of residents in the U.S. Gulf Coast was estimated and factors associated with differences in self-rated health were identified. The 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) was administered online to a sample of 3030 residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast in December 2017. Responses were scored to calculate mental component summary scores and physical component summary scores. Multiple linear regression models were fitted to identify predictors of self-rated health among the residents. Residents of U.S. Gulf Coast States have poorer self-rated physical and mental health compared to the U.S. population. Women and respondents reporting higher perception of flood risk had worse self-rated mental health, while hurricane evacuees, adults of at least 25years of age, those with self-reported hurricane damage, and respondents reporting higher perception of surge risk had worse self-rated physical health. Residents of U.S. Gulf Coast States have poorer self-rated health compared to national standards. These findings may have practical implications for hurricane-associated physical and mental health services planning and delivery.

Flood Risk Literacy: Communication and Implications for Protective Action

Flooding is among the costliest natural disasters in the United States. Research indicates that flood risk perceptions and knowledge often shape flood-related decision making; however, relatively less is known about specific individual differences in flood risk literacy. The current study presents data from 630 participants who completed a flood risk communication experiment and a general decision-making inventory (e.g., numeracy, risk perceptions, knowledge). Structural equation modeling revealed that both numeracy and flood knowledge partially explain differences in vulnerability, including effects on risk comprehension, weather risk perceptions, and decision quality (i.e., taking protective action). Limitations and implications for enhancing flood risk literacy are discussed.

A participatory community case study of periurban coastal flood vulnerability in southern Ecuador.

BackgroundPopulations in coastal cities are exposed to increasing risk of flooding, resulting in rising damages to health and assets. Adaptation measures, such as early warning systems for floods (EWSFs), have the potential to reduce the risk and impact of flood events when tailored to reflect the local social-ecological context and needs. Community perceptions and experiences play a critical role in risk management, since perceptions influence people’s behaviors in response to EWSFs and other interventions.MethodsWe investigated community perceptions and responses in flood-prone periurban areas in the coastal city of Machala, Ecuador. Focus groups (n = 11) were held with community members (n = 65 people) to assess perceptions of flood exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and current alert systems. Discussions were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded by topic. Participatory maps were field validated, georeferenced, and digitized using GIS software. Qualitative data were triangulated with historical government information on rainfall, flood events, population demographics, and disease outbreaks.ResultsFlooding was associated with seasonal rainfall, El Niño events, high ocean tides, blocked drainage areas, overflowing canals, collapsed sewer systems, and low local elevation. Participatory maps revealed spatial heterogeneity in perceived flood risk across the community. Ten areas of special concern were mapped, including places with strong currents during floods, low elevation areas with schools and homes, and other places that accumulate stagnant water. Sensitive populations included children, the elderly, physically handicapped people, low-income families, and recent migrants. Flood impacts included damages to property and infrastructure, power outages, and the economic cost of rebuilding/repairs. Health impacts included outbreaks of infectious diseases, skin infections, snakebite, and injury/drowning. Adaptive capacity was weakest during the preparation and recovery stages of flooding. Participants perceived that their capacity to take action was limited by a lack of social organization, political engagement, and financial capital. People perceived that flood forecasts were too general, and instead relied on alerts via social media.ConclusionsThis study highlights the challenges and opportunities for climate change adaptation in coastal cities. Areas of special concern provide clear local policy targets. The participatory approach presented here (1) provides important context to shape local policy and interventions in Ecuador, complimenting data gathered through standard flood reports, (2) provides a voice for marginalized communities and a mechanism to raise local awareness, and (3) provides a research framework that can be adapted to other resource-limited coastal communities at risk of flooding.

Thinking Through Levees: How Political Agency Extends Beyond the Human Mind

Emerging new materialism scholarship provides an exciting theoretical space not only for challenging traditional conceptions of human agency but also for rethinking the role of the material world in shaping political outcomes. Although a wildly diverse intellectual movement, this scholarship shares the common goal of widening traditional understandings of agency to include nonhuman objects. This article adopts insights from cognitive science to extend the concept of political agency beyond the confines of human intention. Instead of focusing on the constraining material characteristics of the nonhuman within a large-scale relational framework, we argue in support of a distributive understanding of agency based on the co-constitutional essence of the mind itself. Specifically, we integrate insights from embodied cognition grounded in dynamical systems theory into the established framework of the hydrosocial cycle to argue that residents’ experiences within an active material world help explain the existence of certain flood risk perceptions. In other words, human intention or agency—as it is commonly understood—comes into existence through a co-constitutional process involving brain, body, and aspects of a wider environment. Using qualitative interview data from two communities along the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana, we support our arguments through an investigation of three types of embodied experiences between residents and the levees that shape risk perception. Key Words: embodied cognition, hydrosocial cycle, new materialism, risk perception.

Factors influencing communities’ flood risk perceptions: outcome of a community survey in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment, Australia

ABSTRACTThe Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment in NSW, Australia has a unique topography that makes it highly susceptible to flood risks. A recent flood management review has indicated the need for better flood education for the communities residing in the floodplains of the catchment. This research article describes the perceptions of residents to flood risks to their property and factors that can influence this perception. The data was collected through on-line, face-to-face and postal surveys, and the results were derived from the 172 responses received. This article aims to provide a better understanding of the perceptions of the community residing in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment, and to help develop more effective risk communication strategies, to enable better management of floods, and greater level of support from the communities on flood management. Findings of this research show that the communities have a low perception of flood risks in the region and that factors such as proximity to the rivers, gender, age and duration of living in the area can influence perceptions of flood risks to property.

Flood awareness among college students in flash flood alley: a case study of Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, USA

Texas State University (TXST) in San Marcos, Texas is in one of the most flood prone regions of the U.S. due to the synergistic combination of extreme precipitation intensities, low infiltration surfaces, and the hydrologically efficient drainage of the eastern Texas Hill Country. Four flood events occurred along the San Marcos River and adjacent streams from 2015 to 2017 wherein access to the University was restricted. Students who reside in San Marcos as well as students who commute represent a vulnerable population. Starting in the fall of 2015, a survey was conducted among the students of TXST to inquire about their experience(s) with flooding. The purpose of the survey was to fill a gap in the research regarding flood risk perceptions and awareness among students, and to determine (a) what factors contribute to the flood risk perceptions and awareness among students of TXST, (b) what role, if any, do heuristic principles play in forming students’ risk perceptions, and (c) if there is a need to organize flood education at TXST. Results (n = 481) suggest that heuristic principles, such as using the previous experience with flooding, influence students’ behavior, and students would benefit from a University-wide flood education program.

Flood Risk Management in Canada's Prairie Provinces: an Analysis of Decision-Maker Priorities and Policy Preferences.

If the aim of flood risk management (FRM) is to increase society's resilience to floods, then a holistic treatment of flood risk is required that addresses flood prevention, defence, mitigation, preparation, and response and recovery. Progressing resilience-based management to flood risk requires both diversity and coordination of policy across multiple jurisdictions. Decision makers and the types of FRM policy decisions they make play a key role in implementing FRM policies and strategies that progress flood resilience. This paper explores how policy preferences held by FRM decision makers relate to the characteristics of resilient FRM policy. The research was conducted in three flood-prone provinces in western Canada using a multi-criteria analytical approach. The results show that while decision maker FRM priorities are similar across the Canadian Prairies, their preferred FRM policies differ. Further, preferred FRM policies were largely resistance-based and influenced at least as much by flood experiences and perceptions of flood risk as by more obvious administrative pressures such as cost, public acceptability, and environmental protection. Several observations emerge from these results for advancing a coordinated, diversified approach to FRM which is required for resilience, both for western Canada and for FRM more broadly.

Residents’ Willingness to Participate in Green Infrastructure: Spatial Differences and Influence Factors in Shanghai, China

Green infrastructure (GI) plays a fundamental role in achieving urban pluvial flood management, mitigating urban heat island effect, and improving living suitability. Residents’ participation is the main driving force of GI implementation. Based on semi-structured interviews, GIS spatial analysis, and multiple regression, we investigated residents’ willingness to participate in the implementation of GI in public and private space and identified the influence factors in Shanghai, China. The results show that, compared with private space, residents prefer to implement GI in public space, where they have different preferences of GI measures. On urban scale, residents’ willingness to participate in the implementation of GI in private space is characterized as “high in the inner city, low in the suburban areas”, while the spatial difference is insignificant for public space. In addition, the factors affecting residents’ willingness to participate in the implementation of GI are different in private and public space. The deterministic factors of GI participation are gender, education level, and floor for private space, while only include building age for public space, in addition to the common factors of free time, cognition of GI, perception of pluvial flood risk, supportive factors, and environment-improving factors that can influence both private and public space GI participation. Our analysis therefore provides valuable information for policymakers concerning nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation and urban sustainability.

Flash Flood Risk Perception by the Population of Mindelo, S. Vicente (Cape Verde)

São Vicente Island (Republic of Cape Verde) lies within the Sahelian zone and faces several natural hazards, one of which is flash flooding. With the purpose of understanding what factors determine flash flood risk perception, a questionnaire entitled Flash Flood Hazard Perception in Cape Verde was applied to 199 subjects. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify the primary factors associated with the perception of flash flood risk. Differences between different groups under the same impact factor were also compared. The results indicated that certain socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents (gender, level of education, and type of housing) and prior experience correlated with flash flood risk perception. The study also shows statistical differences between the groups. In general, males and the respondents with a high level of education, homeowners, and people with prior experience have better perception of the flash flood risk. These findings can help decision makers to improve effective flash flood risk communication policies and flood risk reduction strategies.

A survey-based assessment of perceived flood risk in urban areas of the United States

Abstract How people perceive the risks of climatic hazards is currently a major research thrust in the field of risk perception. In the wake of recent flood disasters in the United States (US) and globally, more researchers are investigating social vulnerabilities as well as the role of cognition in explaining risk perceptions. This study analyzed how people in the US perceive the risk (i.e., likelihood and seriousness) of flooding via a layered analysis that considered several plausible and intertwined lines of inquiry from the risk perception literature. We surveyed 9250 individuals within nine major urban areas, including the largest city and one smaller city in each region. The National Flood Hazard Layer product provided data for deriving their potential exposure to flood hazards. The analyses tested and confirmed several hypotheses drawn from Social Vulnerability Theory and from Protective Motivation Theory: characteristics associated with social vulnerability (older, female, race/ethnic minorities, low income), previous experiences with and awareness of flood news, and potential exposure to flood hazard (local fraction of flood prone area) significantly increased risk perceptions of floods. Self-confidence in ability to cope with a future flood disaster lowered risk perceptions. This study is the first snapshot of flood risk perceptions nationwide in the US. It points to needs for more theoretically-driven research about flood risk perceptions and behaviors, flood risk communication within local communities, and more social and economic support for vulnerable populations.

Drivers of flood and climate change risk perceptions and intention to adapt: an explorative survey in coastal and delta Vietnam

This article contributes to current research about determinants of climate change and flood risk perception, and intentions to take adaptive measures. We propose a research model that distinguishes between vulnerability and severity components of perceived risks, and adds perceived adaptive capacity as a third factor to predict the intention to take adaptive measures. We used this combined model as a conceptual lens for an explorative survey among 1086 residents of coastal and delta communities in Vietnam. Pairwise analyses revealed a significant association of flood and climate change risk perceptions with individual’s flood experience, climate change knowledge, frequency of community participation and socio-demographic factors. However, in multivariate analysis, the influence of most socio-demographic factors became weak or patchy. Flood experience was the most influential driver of flood-related risk perceptions but weak for climate change-related risk perceptions and behavioural intentions. Knowledge strongly increased the intention to adapt to flood and climate risks and the perceived vulnerability to and severity of climate change risks, but reduced the perceived capacity to adapt to climate risks. Frequency of community participation increased the perceived vulnerability and severity of climate change risks, the intention to adapt to both climate and flood risks and the perceived capacity to adapt to flood risks, but reduced the perceived capacity to adapt to climate risks. Our research confirms earlier findings that individuals’ knowledge, place-specific experience and social-cultural influences are key predictors of both flood and climate change risk perceptions and intentions to take adaptive measures. These factors should therefore receive ample attention in climate risk communication.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Geographic and Social Predictors of Flood Risk Awareness.

The persistent gap in flood risk awareness in Canada, and elsewhere in North America, is a continual source of worry for researchers and emergency managers; many people living in at-risk places are simply unaware of risks and of their proximity to hazards. This study seeks to understand which residents were aware of flood risk, using unique representative survey data of Calgary residents living in the city's flood-prone neighborhoods collected after the devastating and costly 2013 Southern Alberta Flood. The article uses logistic regression models to analyze which residents were aware of risk to their homes. Findings indicate that, in addition to various demographic predictors, many of the geographic predictors (including the elevation of one's home relative to the river) are significant predictors of awareness. Having a direct sight line to one of Calgary's two rivers is also a significant predictor in some of the models, suggesting that the visibility of hazards matters for flood risk perception, although this effect fades when many of the geographic predictors are added. Finally, the models indicate that several variables related to local, neighborhood-based social networks are significant as well. These findings reveal that both physical surroundings and social context are important for understanding risk awareness. The article concludes by discussing the relevance for social science research on disasters and hazards, as well as for planners and emergency managers.

Flood risk perceptions and the willingness to pay for flood insurance in the Veneto region of Italy

The floodplain of the Veneto region (north-east Italy) is one of the most inhabited and economically competitive urban landscapes in Europe. Moreover, recent flood events have caused millions of Euros in damage across the region. Due to the combined influence of climate change and socio-economic development, flood impacts are expected to grow. Therefore, it is important for all flood-prone individuals to actively manage and limit flood risk through property-level flood risk management as part of an integrated flood risk management strategy. This is in line with the calls for wider community engagement in risk management in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, an online-survey of Veneto region residents was conducted asking questions regarding flood risk perceptions, preparedness, and preferences towards flood insurance via self-stated willingness to pay (WTP). Our analysis provides an initial indication that while flood risk knowledge is high, it may not be sufficient to encourage proactive risk management. From the WTP values provided people seem reluctant to buy insurance. However, many respondents expressed that a compulsory insurance system may be acceptable. In such a scheme the estimated insurance premium could fall to between €26 and €42 per year, as compared to, potentially, €800 under risk-based premiums, which falls within the majority of WTP estimates provided (€0-€250). Overall, we identify areas of future research that are critical for the better design of risk management policies, supporting the insurance companies in risk management, and for recommendations regarding property-level risk management.

Households’ perception of flood risk and health impact of exposure to flooding in flood-prone informal settlements in the coastal city of Mombasa

PurposeMombasa City in Kenya is one of the most vulnerable towns to flood risk due to its low-lying coastal location. Those at the highest risk in the city are households living in the flood-prone informal settlements. However, little is known about the perception of these vulnerable households to the flood risks and its health impacts, which is important for developing effective long-term adaptation strategies. The purpose of this paper is to examine the general perception of the residents regarding flood risks, its impact on their health and their adaptation strategies.Design/methodology/approachThis study surveyed 390 randomly selected households in three informal settlements in the city of Mombasa using a semi-structured questionnaire. This was supplemented with six focus group discussions (FDGs) and six key informant interviews (KIIs).FindingsThe majority of respondent households perceive future flooding as high risk or severe with high negative health impact. Despite this, many do not evacuate their homes because they do not have alternative places to move to. Flooding was indicated to have had a negative physical and mental health impact on members of households. Although majority of households had taken some adaptation measures, most of these were short term, mainly due to financial constraints, lack of knowledge and government support. Perception of flood risk and gender were found to have a strong influence on taking long-term adaptation measures at the household level.Practical implicationsReducing flood risk and averting its health consequences in flood-prone informal settlements require empowering and supporting those living in these areas with ability to initiate long-term adaptation measures and creating awareness about future risks.Originality/valueThis study provides evidence about how residents of flood-prone informal settlements perceive flood risk and how the exposures to perennial flooding impact their health. The paper augments existing knowledge of flood risk in poor urban neighborhoods of developing countries.

Households (un)willingness to perform private flood risk reduction – Results from a Swedish survey

This study applies the protection motivation theory (PMT) in analysing homeowners’ flood risk perception and their risk reduction behaviour. A survey was completed by 1143 households in flood-prone residential areas in Sweden. Respondents were asked about their flood experience, their beliefs about their future private flood risk, their trust in public risk reduction and their perception of how responsibility for flood risk reduction is divided between different governmental and private institutions. This study finds that homeowners that have implemented private flood risk reduction (FRR) had to a larger extent been exposed to floods in the past and they considered public FRR to be insufficient. They also had a greater sense of responsibility and believed they had considerable knowledge on how to reduce their private flood risk. Respondents were also asked about their preferences for performing 15 specific private risk reducing measures. The most frequent answer given by homeowners was (1) they do not have the knowledge needed to evaluate the measures. (2) They have evaluated the measures and deemed that the measures will not be able to effectively reduce their private flood risk. To facilitate and exploit the flood risk reduction potential of households, this study identifies the following four areas of flood risk management that need to be better communicated to residents in vulnerable residential areas: Objective flood risk, response efficacy regarding private and public FRR measures, skills that can increase homeowners’ self-efficacy, and the actual responsibility distribution by law concerning private property flood risk reduction.

Capitalization of Flood Insurance and Risk Perceptions in Housing Prices: An Empirical Agent‐Based Model Approach

Federally regulated or insured lenders in the United States are mandated to require flood insurance on properties that are located in areas at high risk of flooding. Despite the existence of this mandatory flood insurance requirement, take‐up rates for flood insurance have been low, and the federal government's exposure to uninsured property losses from flooding remains substantial. Meanwhile, the value of capital at risk varies significantly with flood events and changing risk perceptions, which necessitates mechanisms that stabilize these dynamics. In this article we discuss how a scenario of complete insurance uptake, under various risk attitudes, affects the value of properties in the 100‐year and 500‐year flood zones. Our results indicate that an increase in flood insurance uptake may provide such a mechanism by lowering the value of capital at risk in the flood zone consistently, independent of homeowners' risk attitudes. We apply an empirical adaptive agent‐based model to examine the capitalization of insurance costs, risk premiums, and their interaction in housing prices. Our approach combines widely‐used empirical hedonic analysis with the computational economic framework. We highlight the usefulness of our method in capturing the marginal implicit price of homeowners' preferences that may change over time and separately assess the effect of various factors and policies on property values, illustrating the agent‐based modeling as a valuable complement to traditional hedonic analysis.

How local water and waterbody meanings shape flood risk perception and risk management preferences

The sharp end of climate change is being, and will continue to be, experienced at the local and personal scale. How changing patterns of hazards interplay with local landscapes is an important focus of risk management, both in understanding how place-based risk is perceived and in identifying how local populations would like these risks to be managed. In this study we focus on the object of hazard and examine how different meanings associated with water and waterbodies relate to flood risk perception and preferences for flood management strategies. We present analysis of a mixed methods study with survey data (n = 707) of residents in four coastal towns in France, South Africa and UK presented alongside an in-depth study of the two French towns (semi-structured interviews n = 15 and document analysis). Our analysis unpacks the significance of relationships between the meaning of water in general, and the meaning of specific water bodies, to flood risk perceptions. Our findings indicate that general water meaning is more reliably related to flood risk perception than specific waterbody meaning, where waterbody meanings are significant for flood risk perception, positive identification with rivers relates to reduced flood risk perception. We also find that the meanings associated with water and waterbodies relate to specific preferences for different types of flood management, including insurance and local taxation. The implications for landscapes undergoing rapid change, for example as a result of changing climate and hydrological regimes, are discussed. In particular, we highlight how infrastructure interacts with sense of place in communities undergoing rapid social–ecological change and how understanding this interplay can help in the design of more fully supported adaptation strategies.

Flood Risk Perception and Land Use Change Analysis in Flood Affected- Communities: A Case Study of Temerloh, Malaysia

Floods are one of the most common natural disasters worldwide. In Malaysia, floods cause significant economic damage and loss of human life. The frequency and magnitude of floods are increasing due to climate change and related anthropogenic activities. This study surveyed 280 respondents living in the Temerloh district which is in the midstream zone of the Pahang River Basin. This paper highlights their flood experience and identifies the cause of floods from the view of lay people. Results show that respondents are experienced in flood and flood-related damages. However, their perception of the causes of floods focused on natural causes while ignoring anthropogenic activities such as land use changes. To identify the land use changes, we used a classified shapefile for the years 2000 and 2010 from the Department of Agriculture, Malaysia and used overlay procedure in ArcGIS 10.1. Within the ten years, significant land use changes took place which could increase future flood risks. This paper argues that a grassroots approach to solving flood-related problems is essential. Accordingly, policymakers and decision-makers should involve the local community in the decision making which may develop their flood risk perception and awareness about sustainable land use.

Exploring the link between flood risk perception and public support for funding on flood mitigation policies

Obtaining the support of affected stakeholders is a crucial first step to successful implementation of any public policy, including flood mitigation policies. Public support for flood mitigation policies is largely influenced by flood risk perceptions and flood risk perceptions are, in turn, shaped by a multitude of factors. This paper explores the impact of the determinants of risk perception on willingness to pay for flood risk prevention in Dunkerque (France) using a contingent valuation survey. We find that whether or not respondents include their home within their perceived flood risk areas, trust in flood mitigation measures, environmental beliefs and socio-economic factors are strong predictors of public support for flood risk prevention, whereas actual distance of a respondent’s home to the flood source, knowledge of flood risk, prior experience and trust in local authorities have a limited influence. Policy implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Valuing a managed realignment scheme: What are the drivers of public willingness to pay?

Offering several advantages over traditional “hold the line” flood defences, including increases in the supply of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and habitat provision, managed realignment is increasingly being used as a flood defence option. This paper seeks to add to the growing literature on public perceptions of the benefits of managed realignment by examining local resident's knowledge of estuarine management issues and identifying their willingness to pay towards a new managed realignment scheme on the Tay Estuary, Scotland. Results showed that the majority of respondents were not aware of flood risk issues on the estuary or of different flood defence options. Household mean willingness to pay for a specific managed realignment scheme was calculated at £43 per annum. Significant drivers of willingness to pay included respondents perceived flood risk and worries about the state of existing flood defences. There was also spatial heterogeneity with those living closest to the scheme being willing to pay the most. Prior knowledge of flood risk issues were found not to significantly influence willingness to pay.