scholarly journals Event generation for probabilistic flood risk modelling: multi-site peak flow dependence model vs weather generator based approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Winter ◽  
Klaus Schneeberger ◽  
Sergiy Vorogushyn

Abstract. Flood risk assessment is an important prerequisite for risk management decisions. To estimate the risk, flood damages need to be either systematically recorded over long period or they need to be modelled for a series of synthetically generated flood events. Since damage records are typically rare, time series of plausible, spatially coherent event precipitation or peak discharges need to be generated to drive the chain of process models. In the present study, synthetic flood events are generated by two different approaches to model flood risk in a meso-scale alpine study area (Vorarlberg, Austria). The first approach is based on the semi-conditional multi-variate dependence model applied to discharge series. The second approach is based on the continuous hydrological modelling of synthetic meteorological fields generated by a multi-site weather generator and using an hourly disaggregation scheme. The results of the two approaches are compared in terms of simulated spatial patterns and overall flood risk estimates. It could be demonstrated that both methods are valid approaches for risk assessment with specific advantages and disadvantages. Both methods are superior to the traditional assumption of a uniform return period, where risk is computed by assuming a homogeneous return period (e.g. 100-year flood) across the entire study area.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1689-1703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Winter ◽  
Klaus Schneeberger ◽  
Kristian Förster ◽  
Sergiy Vorogushyn

Abstract. Flood risk assessment is an important prerequisite for risk management decisions. To estimate the risk, i.e. the probability of damage, flood damage needs to be either systematically recorded over a long period or modelled for a series of synthetically generated flood events. Since damage records are typically rare, time series of plausible, spatially coherent event precipitation or peak discharges need to be generated to drive the chain of process models. In the present study, synthetic flood events are generated by two different approaches to modelling flood risk in a meso-scale alpine study area (Vorarlberg, Austria). The first approach is based on the semi-conditional multi-variate dependence model applied to discharge series. The second approach relies on the continuous hydrological modelling of synthetic meteorological fields generated by a multi-site weather generator and using an hourly disaggregation scheme. The results of the two approaches are compared in terms of simulated spatial patterns of peak discharges and overall flood risk estimates. It could be demonstrated that both methods are valid approaches for risk assessment with specific advantages and disadvantages. Both methods are superior to the traditional assumption of a uniform return period, where risk is computed by assuming a homogeneous return period (e.g. 100-year flood) across the entire study area.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenyan Wu ◽  
Seth Westra ◽  
Michael Leonard

Abstract. The quantification of flood risk in estuarine regions relies on accurate estimation of flood probability, which is often challenging due to the rareness of flood events and their multi-causal (or compound) nature. Failure to consider the compounding nature of estuarine floods can lead to significant underestimation of flood risk in these regions. This study provides a comparative review of alternative approaches for estuarine flood estimation; namely, traditional univariate flood frequency analysis applied to both observed historical data and simulated data, and multivariate frequency analysis applied to flood events. Three specific implementations of the above approaches are evaluated on a case study – the estuarine portion of Swan River in Western Australia, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The theoretical understanding of the three approaches, combined with findings from the case study, enable generation of guidance on method selection for estuarine flood probability estimation, recognising issues such as data availability, complexity of the application/analysis process, location of interest within the estuarine region, computational demands and whether or not future conditions need to be assessed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 2821-2841
Author(s):  
Wenyan Wu ◽  
Seth Westra ◽  
Michael Leonard

Abstract. The quantification of flood risk in estuarine regions relies on accurate estimation of flood probability, which is often challenging due to the rareness of hazardous flood events and their multi-causal (or “compound”) nature. Failure to consider the compounding nature of estuarine floods can lead to significant underestimation of flood risk in these regions. This study provides a comparative review of alternative approaches for estuarine flood estimation – namely, traditional univariate flood frequency analysis applied to both observed historical data and simulated data, as well as multivariate frequency analysis applied to flood events. Three specific implementations of the above approaches are evaluated on a case study – the estuarine portion of Swan River in Western Australia – highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The theoretical understanding of the three approaches, combined with findings from the case study, enable the generation of guidance on method selection for estuarine flood probability estimation, recognizing issues such as data availability, the complexity of the application/analysis process, the location of interest within the estuarine region, the computational demands, and whether or not future conditions need to be assessed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 4381
Author(s):  
Lidong Zhao ◽  
Ting Zhang ◽  
Jun Fu ◽  
Jianzhu Li ◽  
Zhengxiong Cao ◽  
...  

Global climate change and rapid urbanization have caused increases in urban floods. Urban flood risk assessment is a vital method for preventing and controlling such disasters. This paper takes the central region of Cangzhou city in Hebei Province as an example. Detailed topographical information, such as the buildings and roads in the study area, was extracted from GF-2 data. By coupling the two models, the SWMM and MIKE21, the spatial distribution of the inundation region, and the water depth in the study area under different return periods, were simulated in detail. The results showed that, for the different return periods, the inundation region was generally consistent. However, there was a large increase in the mean inundation depth within a 10-to-30-year return period, and the increase in the maximum inundation depth and inundation area remained steady. The comprehensive runoff coefficient in all of the scenarios exceeded 0.8, indicating that the drainage system in the study area is insufficient and has a higher flood risk. The flood risk of the study area was evaluated based on the damage curve, which was obtained from field investigations. The results demonstrate that the loss per unit area was less than CNY 250/m2 in each return period in the majority of the damaged areas. Additionally, the total loss was mainly influenced by the damaged area, but, in commercial areas, the total loss was highly sensitive to the inundation depth.


The study examined the risk assessment of communities in the Central Niger Delta, Nigeria with a view to employing analytical hierarchical ranking process technique. The study considered the landuse, elevation, soil texture and proximity to active river channels as factors determining flood vulnerability (FV) while factors such as accessibility, social infrastructure, water supply, agriculture, commercial activities and disaster preparedness of communities were used for flood exposure (FE) using purposive sampling technique. Both FV and FE were combined together using UNION Module of ArcGIS 10.5 to produce flood risk map of the Central Niger Delta. Descriptive statistics using frequency and percentages were used for the data analysis. Findings revealed that 20.25%, 51.66% and 28.09% of the entire study area were lowly vulnerable, moderately vulnerable and highly vulnerable to flood. Similarly, 0.3%, 45.7% and 54.8% were lowly exposed, moderately exposed and highly exposed to flood. However, 14.3%, 28.3% and 57.4% of the study area had low flood risk, moderate flood risk and high flood risk respectively. The study concluded that majority of the area in the Central Niger Delta is risky to flood. It is recommended among others that channelization and dredging of River Niger Creeks in the study area are important in order for the river to accommodate more volume of water whenever there is excessive rainfall.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Boudou ◽  
Eimear Cleary ◽  
Paul Hynds ◽  
Jean O'Dwyer ◽  
Patricia Garvey ◽  
...  

<p>Environmentally associated infectious diseases, including those driven by extreme weather events, represent a critical challenge for public health as their source and transmission are frequently sporadic and associated mechanisms often not well understood. Over the past decade, the Republic of Ireland (ROI) has persistently reported the highest incidence of confirmed verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) and cryptosporidiosis infection in the European Union. Moreover, recent climate projections indicate that the incidence, severity and timing of extreme rainfall events and flooding will increase dramatically over the next century, with Ireland forecast to be the second most affected European country with respect to the mean proportion of the population residing in flood-prone areas by 2100. This study aimed to assess the association(s) between potential flood risk exposure and the spatial occurrence of confirmed VTEC and cryptosporidiosis infection in Ireland over a 10-year period (2008-2017).</p><p>In 2012, the Irish Office of Public Works (OPW) initiated the National Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme within the framework of the Flood Directive (2007/60/CE), with high-resolution flood maps produced for coastal and fluvial risks and three risk scenarios based on calculated return periods (low, medium and high probability). Small area identifiers (national census area centroids) were used to attach anonymised spatially referenced case data to CFRAM polygons using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to produce an anonymised dataframe of confirmed infection events linked to geographically explicit flood risk attributes. Generalised linear modelling with binary link functions (infection presence/absence) were used to calculate probabilistic odds ratios (OR) between flood risk (presence/absence and scenarios) and confirmed human infection.</p><p>Preliminary results indicate a clear relationship between both infections and hydrological risk. Over one third of all infection cases were reported within areas exposed to flood risk (VTEC 948/2755 cases; cryptosporidiosis 1548/4509 cases). Census areas categorised by a high (10-year Return Period) fluvial flood risk probability exhibited significantly higher incidence rates for both VTEC (OR: 1.83, P = 0.0003) and cryptosporidiosis (OR: 1.80, P = 0.0015). Similarly, areas characterised by low (1000-year Return Period) coastal flood risk probability were over twice as likely to report ≥1 confirmed case of cryptosporidiosis during the study period (OR: 2.2, P= 0.003). Space-time scan statistics (temporally-specific spatial autocorrelation) indicate an unseasonal peak of cryptosporidiosis cases occurring during April 2016, a majority of which took place within or adjacent to high flood risk areas (56% of total cases), revealing a potential relationship with the exceptional flooding events experienced during winter 2015-2016 (November-January). Further work will seek to identify the individual/combined flood risk (CFRAM) elements most significantly associated with the incidence of infections.</p><p>Flood risk assessment mapping may represent an innovative approach to assessing the human health impacts of flood risk exposure and climate change. The outcomes of this study will contribute to predictive modelling of VTEC and cryptosporidiosis in Ireland, thus aiding surveillance and control of these diseases in the future, and the causative nature of regional hydrology and climate.   </p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130
Author(s):  
Ado Umar Farouq ◽  
Peter I Ahonsi

This research work titled “Evaluation of Noise Exposure Level in Delta Mall and Robinson Plaza” was aimed at the determination of the noise exposure level and it’s implication to the health of workers/individuals in Delta Mall and Robinson Plaza. A sound level meter (SLM) of model 407736 was used to measure the noise level in Delta Mall and Robinson Plaza. At Robinson plaza, the noise was measured in 13 different locations and they are numbered Block A – N with an exception of Block I. The procedure was carried out in the morning (9:00am – 9:30am), afternoon (1:00pm – 1:30pm), and evening (6:00pm – 6:30pm) measurements for a period of 30 days. The noise exposure level of the entire study area for Robinson Plaza, revealed an average dose of 177.2% and equivalent TWA of 94.1 dBA for 12 hours duration per day and when compared with OSHA standard, it exceeded the exposure action value in the OSHA noise exposure limits (90 dBA for 8 hours duration per day), hence, a detailed risk assessment must be completed for the entire Robinson Plaza. While the noise exposure level of the entire study area for Delta Mall, revealed an average dose of 115.5% and equivalent TWA of 91.0 dBA for 12 hours duration per day and when compared with OSHA standard, it exceeded the exposure action value in the OSHA noise exposure limits (90 dBA for 8 hours duration per day), hence, a detailed risk assessment must be completed for the entire Delta Mall. It’s therefore concluded that the noise generated from both Delta Mall and Robinson Plaza can be harmful to the health of workers. It was recommended that due to these possible effects of noise pollution on the populace, the following action should be carried out: Isolate noise at source, Using protection equipment, Urgent need for legislation to control noise pollution, and Public awakening and education.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Abdullah Al Baky ◽  
Muktarun Islam ◽  
Supria Paul

AbstractThis study is concerned with flood risk that can be assessed by integrating GIS, hydraulic modelling and required field information. A critical point in flood risk assessment is that while flood hazard is the same for a given area in terms of intensity, the risk could be different depending on a set of conditions (flood vulnerability). Clearly, risk is a function of hazard and vulnerability. This study aims to introducing a new approach of assessing flood risk, which successfully addresses this above-mentioned critical issue. The flood risk was assessed from flood hazard and vulnerability indices. Two-dimensional flood flow simulation was performed with Delft3D model to compute floodplain inundation depths for hazard assessment. For the purpose of flood vulnerability assessment, elements at risk and flood damage functions were identified and assessed, respectively. Then, finally flood risk was assessed first by combining replacement values assessed for the elements and then using the depth–damage function. Applying this approach, the study finds that areas with different levels of flood risk do not always increase with the increase in return period of flood. However, inundated areas with different levels of flood depth always increase with the increase in return period of flood. The approach for flood risk assessment adopted in this study successfully addresses the critical point in flood risk study, where flood risk can be varied even after there is no change in flood hazard intensity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 352-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
HUANG Qiang ◽  
◽  
CHEN Zishen

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hnin Wuit Yee Kyaw ◽  
Alexandra Dudley

<p>Worldwide, floods have major impacts on people, economies, and the environment. In Myanmar, floods are the most frequently occurring hazard and have the highest contribution to average annual loss compared to all other hazards. Although the population has learned to adapt to yearly flooding, climate change exacerbates the frequency and magnitude of flood events to an extent where the population has little capacity to cope. Many factors such as poverty and dependency on agriculture make the Burmese people more vulnerable to major flood events. The need to better understand flood risk and its spatial patterns in Myanmar has become extremely important.</p><p>However, the state of the art on flood risk in Myanmar is not well developed. Analysis has mostly focused on flood loss, hazard, mitigation, and resilience, or future vulnerability to flooding. Here we present a comprehensive quantitative indicator-based risk assessment for a major flood event with a 100-year return period at the township level for Myanmar. This analysis will show the spatial distribution of major river flood risk based on the IPCC framing of risk while highlighting factors of vulnerability that contribute to risk. The analysis considered the present-day flood risk to people. Flood extent and population distribution were used to create a hazard/exposure indicator. Then, a systematic literature review was performed to identify relevant vulnerability indicators and drivers for Myanmar. Data for each vulnerability indicator was collected and compiled into one vulnerability index score. Then, we compared two different methods of aggregation of the elements into a risk index: multiplicative arithmetic aggregation and overlay of different quantiles of hazard/exposure and vulnerability. Post hoc analysis was conducted to test the relationship between elements for the multiplicative aggregation method.</p><p>The analysis showed that the highly exposed populations and townships are adjacent to rivers, with most flooding in the Ayeyarwady region. Major urban population centers such as Yangon and Mandalay cities have high exposure to flooding. Vulnerability to river flooding is primarily triggered by poverty, inadequate access to healthcare with a limited number of doctors and beds, poor road networks, and a small number of households with boats. Risk is highly concentrated in townships in the Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Rakhine regions in both aggregation methods.</p><p>Importantly, there are limitations in this study and future work could focus on addressing these gaps. For example, this assessment focused on a single hazard (flood) and a single exposed element (people) whereas Myanmar has a multi-hazard environment with complex social-ecological systems and high levels of resource dependency. Nevertheless, our study results remain essential for local and national authorities and related organizations in the field of disaster risk reduction as it has a strong conceptual foundation of risk with a clear focus on entry points for vulnerability and risk reduction.</p><p> </p><p> </p>


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