Flood Mitigation Measure and Water Storage in East Africa: An Analysis for the Rio Muaguide, Mozambique

In the last century, floods have been more frequently hitting population and human activity, especially in the sub-Saharan context. The aim of this study is to propose suitable flood mitigation measures for the downstream part of the Rio Muaguide, which flows in northern Mozambique. In this terminal part of the river, the bed has been buried by sediment in many reaches; due to the reduction of the section conveyance, wide areas are inundated during the rainy season with negative consequences for several villages relying on subsistence agriculture. The design of any measure requires quantitative determinations but, as many less developed countries, Mozambique is affected by data scarcity. Therefore, in this study global and freely available data have been used to perform hydrologic and two-dimensional hydro-dynamic modelling, finally producing a flood hazard map. Particular care has been put into a critical analysis of several data sources, in terms of their suitability for the purposes of the work. Based on the modelling results and on field evidence, an intervention has been proposed with a double functionality of mitigating the effects of periodic floods and storing water to be used by the agricultural community during drier seasons. The proposed intervention combines restoring a sedimentation-less shape of the river sections and exploiting a natural basin as a storage basin. The methods applied and the intervention proposed for the Rio Muaguide are prototypal for several analogous streams in the coastal portion of Mozambique.

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Modeling the Impact of Building-Level Flood Mitigation Measures Made Possible by Early Flood Warnings on Community-Level Flood Loss Reduction

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings11100475 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 475

Author(s):

Omar M. Nofal ◽

John W. van de van de Lindt ◽

Harvey Cutler ◽

Martin Shields ◽

Kevin Crofton

Keyword(s):

Flood Risk ◽

Risk Model ◽

Flood Hazard ◽

Community Level ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Precipitation Forecast ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Flood Vulnerability ◽

The Impact ◽

Flood Warnings

The growing number of flood disasters worldwide and the subsequent catastrophic consequences of these events have revealed the flood vulnerability of communities. Flood impact predictions are essential for better flood risk management which can result in an improvement of flood preparedness for vulnerable communities. Early flood warnings can provide households and business owners additional time to save certain possessions or products in their buildings. This can be accomplished by elevating some of the water-sensitive components (e.g., appliances, furniture, electronics, etc.) or installing a temporary flood barrier. Although many qualitative and quantitative flood risk models have been developed and highlighted in the literature, the resolution used in these models does not allow a detailed analysis of flood mitigation at the building- and community level. Therefore, in this article, a high-fidelity flood risk model was used to provide a linkage between the outputs from a high-resolution flood hazard model integrated with a component-based probabilistic flood vulnerability model to account for the damage for each building within the community. The developed model allowed to investigate the benefits of using a precipitation forecast system that allows a lead time for the community to protect its assets and thereby decreasing the amount of flood-induced losses.

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Flood Mitigation in Developing Countries: A Case Study of India

Asian Review of Social Sciences ◽

10.51983/arss-2018.7.1.1378 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 91-95

Author(s):

Md. Karar Ahmad

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Natural Disasters ◽

Structural Control ◽

Flood Hazard ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Indian Government ◽

Additional Information ◽

Public Property

Floods are the common natural disasters in most of the developing countries, and India isno exception.Due to the geographic and climatic conditions the country remains under threat. Floods have been recurrent phenomenon in many parts of India, causing loss of lives and public property and bringing untold misery to the people. The floods that occurred in India in 2013 were highly catastrophic based on the number of victims. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC (2013) continues to steer the evacuation efforts as well as in rescuing the stranded victims. Methods of structural control of floodwater can be grouped into four types; namely, storage, diversion, enhancing channel capacity, and constriction of the water within the channel. The following flood mitigation measures could be adopted to mitigate the adverse impacts of severe floods and to prevent normal floods. Flood walls are constructed out of materials such as concrete or steel in order to control the flow of flood waters and prevent the flooding of specific areas. The construction of floodwalls and embankments has been the traditional means of protecting low lying communities and infrastructure against flooding. Flood hazard maps contain information about the probability or magnitude of an event whereas flood risk maps contain additional information about the consequences. Flood insurance is one of the effective ways in order to cope with the aftermaths of flood events. The Indian government acknowledges the problems the country faces because of the various natural disasters that occur. Consequently, various agencies have been instituted to evaluate the country’s exposure to disasters and to develop ways of mitigating or managing the impacts of the disasters.

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Public perception of flood risks, flood forecasting and mitigation

Natural Hazards and Earth System Science ◽

10.5194/nhess-5-345-2005 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 345-355 ◽

Cited By ~ 109

Author(s):

M. Brilly ◽

M. Polic

Keyword(s):

Return Period ◽

Public Perception ◽

Flood Hazard ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Public Response ◽

Perception Of Threat ◽

Best Response ◽

The Town

Abstract. A multidisciplinary and integrated approach to the flood mitigation decision making process should provide the best response of society in a flood hazard situation including preparation works and post hazard mitigation. In Slovenia, there is a great lack of data on social aspects and public response to flood mitigation measures and information management. In this paper, two studies of flood perception in the Slovenian town Celje are represented. During its history, Celje was often exposed to floods, the most recent serious floods being in 1990 and in 1998, with a hundred and fifty return period and more than ten year return period, respectively. Two surveys were conducted in 1997 and 2003, with 157 participants from different areas of the town in the first, and 208 in the second study, aiming at finding the general attitude toward the floods. The surveys revealed that floods present a serious threat in the eyes of the inhabitants, and that the perception of threat depends, to a certain degree, on the place of residence. The surveys also highlighted, among the other measures, solidarity and the importance of insurance against floods.

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Conflicts in Biafra, Katanga and Cabinda as a result of the geopolitical legacy of colonialism

OOO Zhurnal Voprosy Istorii ◽

10.31166/voprosyistorii202010statyi60 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 (10-3) ◽

pp. 238-246

Author(s):

Olga Dzhenchakova

Keyword(s):

Democratic Republic ◽

Economic Factor ◽

Colonial Period ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Post Colonial ◽

Republic Of The Congo ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Republic ◽

The Impact

The article considers the impact of the colonial past of some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and its effect on their development during the post-colonial period. The negative consequences of the geopolitical legacy of colonialism are shown on the example of three countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Angola, expressed in the emergence of conflicts in these countries based on ethno-cultural, religious and socio-economic contradictions. At the same time, the focus is made on the economic factor and the consequences of the consumer policy of the former metropolises pursuing their mercantile interests were mixed.

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A Conflict between Traditional Flood Measures and Maintaining River Ecosystems? A Case Study Based upon the River Lærdal, Norway

Water ◽

10.3390/w13141884 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 1884

Author(s):

Ana Juárez ◽

Knut Alfredsen ◽

Morten Stickler ◽

Ana Adeva-Bustos ◽

Rodrigo Suárez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing Data ◽

Freshwater Ecosystems ◽

River Channel ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Flood Events ◽

Protection Measures ◽

River Ecosystems ◽

Hydraulic Models

Floods are among the most damaging of natural disasters, and flood events are expected to increase in magnitude and frequency with the effects of climate change and changes in land use. As a consequence, much focus has been placed on the engineering of structural flood mitigation measures in rivers. Traditional flood protection measures, such as levees and dredging of the river channel, threaten floodplains and river ecosystems, but during the last decade, sustainable reconciliation of freshwater ecosystems has increased. However, we still find many areas where these traditional measures are proposed, and it is challenging to find tools for evaluation of different measures and quantification of the possible impacts. In this paper, we focus on the river Lærdal in Norway to (i) present the dilemma between traditional flood measures and maintaining river ecosystems and (ii) quantify the efficiency and impact of different solutions based on 2D hydraulic models, remote sensing data, economics, and landscape metrics. Our results show that flood measures may be in serious conflict with environmental protection and legislation to preserve biodiversity and key nature types.

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Methodology for holistic assessment of grey-green flood mitigation measures for climate change adaptation in urban basins

Journal of Hydrology ◽

10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126885 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 603 ◽

pp. 126885

Author(s):

Ioannis M. Kourtis ◽

Vasilis Bellos ◽

George Kopsiaftis ◽

Basil Psiloglou ◽

Vassilios A. Tsihrintzis

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Adaptation ◽

Flood Mitigation ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Holistic Assessment

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Assessing Soil Loss by Water Erosion in a Typical Mediterranean Ecosystem of Northern Greece under Current and Future Rainfall Erosivity

Water ◽

10.3390/w13152002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 2002

Author(s):

Stefanos Stefanidis ◽

Vasileios Alexandridis ◽

Chrysoula Chatzichristaki ◽

Panagiotis Stefanidis

Keyword(s):

Open Source ◽

Soil Loss ◽

Renewable Resource ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Mediterranean Ecosystem ◽

Rainfall Erosivity ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Northern Greece ◽

Erosion Risk

Soil is a non-renewable resource essential for life existence. During the last decades it has been threatened by accelerating erosion with negative consequences for the environment and the economy. The aim of the current study was to assess soil loss changes in a typical Mediterranean ecosystem of Northern Greece, under climate change. To this end, freely available geospatial data was collected and processed using open-source software package. The widespread RUSLE empirical erosion model was applied to estimate soil loss. Current and future rainfall erosivity were derived from a national scale study considering average weather conditions and RCMs outputs for the medium Representative Concentration Pathway scenario (RCP4.5). Results showed that average rainfall erosivity (R-Factor) was 508.85 MJ mm ha h−1 y−1 while the K-factor ranged from 0.0008 to 0.05 t ha h ha−1 MJ−1 mm−1 and LS-factor reached 60.51. Respectively, C-factor ranged from 0.01 to 0.91 and P-factor ranged from 0.42 to 1. The estimated potential soil loss rates will remain stable for the near future period (2021–2050), while an increase of approximately 9% is expected by the end of the 21th century (2071–2100). The results suggest that appropriate erosion mitigation strategies should be applied to reduce erosion risk. Subsequently, appropriate mitigation measures per Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) categories are proposed. It is worth noting that the proposed methodology has a high degree of transferability as it is based on open-source data.

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Towards Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

Comparative Sociology ◽

10.1163/15691330-bja10028 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 138-158

Author(s):

Umer Khayyam ◽

Rida Bano ◽

Shahzad Alvi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Climate ◽

Capital City ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Adaptation Measures ◽

Natural Systems ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Level Of Motivation ◽

The University

Abstract Global climate change is one of the main threats facing humanity and the impacts on natural systems as well as humans are expected to be severe. People can take action against these threats through two approaches: mitigation and adaptation. However, mitigations and adaptations are contingent on the level of motivation and awareness, as well as socio-economic and environmental conditions. This study examined personal perception and motivation to mitigate and adapt to climate change among the university students in the capital city of Pakistan. We divided the respondents into social sciences, applied sciences and natural sciences, using logistic regression analysis. The results indicated that students who perceive severity, benefits from preparation, and have more information about climate change were 1.57, 4.98 and 1.63 times more likely to take mitigation and 1.47, 1.14 and 1.17 times more likely to take adaptation measures, respectively. Students who perceived self-efficacy, obstacles to protect from the negative consequences of climate change and who belonged to affluent families were more likely to take mitigation measures and less likely to take adaptation strategies. However, mitigation and adaptation were unaffected by age, gender and study discipline.

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