Flood risk management in the Thames Estuary looking ahead 100 years

2005 ◽  
Vol 363 (1831) ◽  
pp. 1455-1474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Lavery ◽  
Bill Donovan
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Current System ◽  
Flood Plain ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Thames Estuary ◽  
The North ◽  
River Thames ◽  
The Uk

The River Thames tidal defences have provided protection against the increasing threat of tidal flooding from the North Sea for more than 2000 years. The flood of 1953 was the catalyst for the construction of the current system of River Thames tidal defences, which includes the Thames Barrier, and has provided one of the best standards of flood defence in the UK for over 20 years. Substantial growth is planned through ‘Thames Gateway’, a regeneration initiative of the United Kingdom government. These new developments will fundamentally change the developed footprint in the Thames Estuary flood-plain, and will be in place for at least the next 100 years. This presents a challenge of planning future defence against a background of uncertainty over climate and other environmental change, while ensuring that correct decisions are made concerning the nature and location of new building in the tidal flood-plain. Through its ‘Thames Estuary 2100’ project, the Environment Agency is developing a long-term strategy for flood risk management in the estuary. Implementation of major construction works on the River Thames could commence from around 2015. Alternatively, it may be decided that minimum works are undertaken to provide security and major investment is delayed until uncertainties over climate change have abated. Whatever long-term option is chosen, this must be preceded by a period of collaboration with the Thames Gateway developments to ensure appropriate and sustainable flood defences are incorporated in new riverside construction.

scholarly journals Measurement of current changes in land levels as input to long-term planning for flood risk management along the Thames estuary

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.M. Bingley ◽  
F.N. Teferle ◽  
E.J. Orliac ◽  
A.H. Dodson ◽  
S.D.P. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Thames Estuary

scholarly journals Long-term experiences with pluvial flood risk management

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 04017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrina Fritsch ◽  
André Assmann ◽  
Bernd Tyrna
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management

Insurance and sustainability in flood-risk management: the UK in a transitional state

Area ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Ball ◽  
Alan Werritty ◽  
Alistair Geddes
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Transitional State ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals The evolution of climate change guidance for fluvial flood risk management in England

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas S Reynard ◽  
Alison L Kay ◽  
Molly Anderson ◽  
Bill Donovan ◽  
Caroline Duckworth
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Floods are one of the biggest natural hazards to society, and there is increasing concern about the potential impacts of climate change on flood occurrence and magnitude. Furthermore, flood risk is likely to increase in the future not just through increased flood occurrence, but also through socio-economic changes, such as increasing population. The extent to which adaptation measures can offset this increased risk will depend on the level of future climate change, but there exists an urgent need for information on the potential impacts of climate change on floods, so that these can be accounted for by flood management authorities and local planners aiming to reduce flood risk. Agencies across the UK have been pro-active in providing such guidance for many years and in refining it as the science of climate change and hydrological impacts has developed. The history of this guidance for fluvial flood risk in England is presented and discussed here, including the recent adoption of a regional risk-based approach. Such an approach could be developed and applied to flood risk management in other countries, and to other sectors affected by climate change.

scholarly journals Modelling differential geomorphic effectiveness in neighbouring upland catchments: implications for sediment and flood risk management in a wetter world

2021 ◽  
pp. 030913332110455
Author(s):  
David J Milan
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Shear Stress ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Morphodynamic Modelling ◽  
Structural Resistance ◽  
Channel Boundary ◽  
Summer Storm ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Total Sediment

In July 2007 an intense summer storm resulted in significant activation of the sediment system in the Thinhope Burn, UK. Catchment- and reach-scale morphodynamic modelling is used to investigate the geomorphic work undertaken by Thinhope Burn; comparing this with the more subdued responses shown by its neighbours. Total sediment efflux for Thinhope Burn over the 10 yr period 1998-2007 was 18, 801 m3 four times that of the larger Knar Burn catchment and fifty-four times that of the smaller Glendue Burn catchment. For a discharge of 60 m3s-1, equivalent to the July 2007 Thinhope flood, sediment efflux was 575 m3, 76 m3, and 67 m3 for Thinhope, Glendue and Knar Burns respectively. It is clear that Thinhope Burn undertook significantly more geomorphic work compared to its neighbours. Analysis of the population of shear stress for reach-scale simulations on Thinhope Burn highlighted that the final three simulations (flood peaks of 60, 90, 236 m3s-1) all produced very similar distributions, with no marked increase in the modal shear stress (∼250 Nm-2). This possibly suggests that flows >60 m3s-1 are not able to exert significantly greater energy on the channel boundary, indicating that flows in the region of 60 m3s-1 attain ‘peak’ geomorphic work. It is argued that factors such as strength resistance of the key sediment sources (e.g. paleoberms perched on terraces), structural resistance to flood waves imposed by valley form resistance, location sensitivity and transmission resistance, may all offer explanations for increased geomorphic effectiveness compared with its neighbours. With the expectation of greater rainfall totals in the winter and more extreme summer events in upland areas of the UK, it is clear that attention needs to focus upon the implications of this upon the morphological stability of these areas not least to aid future sustainable flood risk management.

scholarly journals Comparative analysis and implications of sustainable Flood Risk Management in four front-end countries: The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, & Japan 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faith Ka Shun Chan ◽  
Liang Emlyn Yang ◽  
Gordon Mitchell ◽  
Nigel Wright ◽  
Mingfu Guan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Flood Risk Management

Abstract. Sustainable flood risk management (SFRM) has become popular since the 1980s. Many governmental and non-governmental organisations have been keen on implementing the SFRM strategies by integrating social, ecological and economic themes into their flood risk management (FRM) practices. However, justifications for SFRM are still embryonic and it is not yet clear whether this concept is influencing the current policies in different countries. This paper reviews the past and present flood management approaches and experiences from flood defence to FRM in four developed countries with the aim of highlighting lessons for developing mega deltas. The paper explored recent strategies such as “Making Space for Water, PPS 25, and NPPF” in the UK; “Room for Rivers” in the Netherlands which was promoted to cope with flooding, integrate FRM with ideas on sustainability, and deliver good FRM practice for next generations. The United States has also established a sound National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and Japan has developed an advanced flood warning and evacuation contingency system to prepare for climatic extremes. These case studies showed some good lessons to achieve long term SFRM direction to deliver flood management practices with social-economic and environmental concerns. Most of developing coastal megacities especially in Asia are still heavily reliant on traditional hard-engineering approach, that may not be enough to mitigate substantial risks due to human (exist huge populations, rapid socio-economic growth, subsidence) and natural (climate change) factors. We understand different countries and cities have their own interpretation on SFRM, but recommend policy makers to adopt “mixed options” towards thinking about long term and sustainability that with social, economic and environmental considerations. 

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