Flood risk mapping worldwide : a flexible methodology and toolbox

Flood risk assessments predict the potential consequences of flooding, leading to more effective risk management and strengthening resilience. However, adequate assessments rely on large quantities of high-quality input data. Developing regions lack reliable data or funds to acquire them. Therefore, this research has developed a flexible, low-cost methodology for mapping flood hazard, vulnerability and risk. A generic methodology was developed and customized for freely available data with global coverage, enabling risk assessment worldwide. The default workflow can be enriched with region-specific information when available. The practical application is assured by a modular toolbox developed on GDAL and PCRASTER. This toolbox was tested for the catchment of the river Moustiques, Haiti, for which several flood hazard maps were developed. Then, the toolbox was used to create social, economic and physical vulnerability maps. These were combined with the hazard maps to create the three corresponding flood risk maps. After creating these with the default data, more detailed information, gathered during field work, was added to verify the results of the basic workflow. These first tests of the developed toolbox show promising results. The toolbox allows policy makers in developing countries to perform reliable flood risk assessments and generate the necessary maps

Appui à l'élaboration des projets des Plans de Gestion des Risques d'Inondation (PGRI)relatifs à la Directive Inondation 2007/60/CE - Rapport final

Ce document constitue le rapport final de clôture du projet « Appui à l’élaboration des projets des Plans de Gestion des Risques d’Inondation (PGRI) relatifs à la Directive Inondation 2007/60/CE » mené par l’association momentanée UCL-Almadius. Dans ce cadre, quatre ingénieurs de projet, nommés ci-après responsables PGRI (RPGRI) ont mené à bien le travail sous l’égide des chefs de projet. Comme son intitulé l’indique, ce projet a pour objet l’appui à l’élaboration des projets des Plans de Gestion des Risques d’Inondation (PGRI) des quatre districts hydrographiques de Wallonie en collaboration étroite avec les ingénieurs du SPW et sous l’égide du Groupe Transversal Inondations(GTI). Le travail à réaliser comprenait les tâches suivantes: - la sensibilisation et l’échange d'information via les gestionnaires et les différents acteurs de terrain avec l’aide des Contrats de Rivière, comme support de la coordination; - la récolte des informations de gestion des cours d’eau issues des gestionnaires des voies navigables, des cours d’eau de première catégorie, de seconde catégorie, de troisième catégorie et des wateringues, le cas échéant; - la rédaction des fiches projets en relation avec les objectifs et mesures définies sur chaque sous-bassin hydrographique; - l’évaluation intégrée des fiches projets (analyse à l’échelle du sous-bassin hydrographique) - 15 sous-bassins hydrographiques pour la Wallonie – avec confrontations de projets antagonistes) et; - la rédaction des chapitres des PGRI. Conformément au cahier des charges l’association momentanée UCL-Almadius a ainsi réalisé : - les 4 PGRI intégrés au niveau des districts hydrographiques, - la base de données avec les données accumulées lors du projet, - les bases de données géographiques, - un document de vulgarisation des PGRI, - un document à portée scientifique, - une boite à outils (kit communication, base de données, fichier de contacts). Ce rapport reprend : - un récapitulatif final de l’état d’avancement des différentes tâches mentionnées ci dessus; - un bref descriptif des tâches effectuées depuis novembre 2013 jusqu’au 15 avril 2015 avec un feedback particulier de l’association momentanée UCL-Almadius sur chaque étape; - une synthèse de la méthodologie mise en oeuvre; - un retour d’expérience sur l’élaboration des PGRI

Collaborative multi-stakeholder approach to drafting flood risk management plans in Wallonia, Belgium

The Flood Directive 2007/60/CE establishes a common framework within the European Union for assessing and reducing risks posed by floods on human health, the environment, economic activity and cultural heritage. For that purpose, Member States had to establish flood areas and flood risk maps, and subsequently, flood risk management plans (due December 2015). According to the Directive, special attention is to be paid to international coordination for transboundary water courses, integrated management approaches at the catchment scale, cost-effectiveness of measures and public involvement. Management measures must focus on reducing the probability of flooding and the potential consequences of flooding. They must cover prevention, protection and preparedness and must take into account relevant aspects, such as water management, soil management, spatial planning, land use and nature conservation. Floods in Wallonia mostly originate from overflowing of both little sloped rivers and highly reactive rivers but also, from concentrated runoff in the intensely cultivated and erosion-prone region north of the Sambre- Meuse axis. Consequently, walloon flood area maps not only show flood areas based on hydraulic modelling and observations but also runoff concentration axis in agricultural areas. Now released to the public, this information can be used to assess the risk of damage for land planning and erosion control strategies. Incidentally, some 166 km2 were mapped as flood hazard area with a return period of 25 years, 28.8 of which are urbanized or destined to urbanisation and counting of number of approximatively 39.000 people living in those areas. Flood area and flood risk maps should be the starting point of elaborating flood risk management plans

High Risk of Anal and Rectal Cancer in Patients With Anal and/or Perianal Crohn’s Disease

International audienceBackground & AimsLittle is known about the magnitude of the risk of anal and rectal cancer in patients with anal and/or perineal Crohn’s disease. We aimed to assess the risk of anal and rectal cancer in patients with Crohn’s perianal disease followed up in the Cancers Et Surrisque Associé aux Maladies Inflammatoires Intestinales En France (CESAME) cohort.MethodsWe collected data from 19,486 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) enrolled in the observational CESAME study in France, from May 2004 through June 2005; 14.9% of participants had past or current anal and/or perianal Crohn’s disease. Subjects were followed up for a median time of 35 months (interquartile range, 29–40 mo). To identify risk factors for anal cancer in the total CESAME population, we performed a case-control study in which participants were matched for age and sex.ResultsAmong the total IBD population, 8 patients developed anal cancer and 14 patients developed rectal cancer. In the subgroup of 2911 patients with past or current anal and/or perianal Crohn’s lesions at cohort entry, 2 developed anal squamous-cell carcinoma, 3 developed perianal fistula–related adenocarcinoma, and 6 developed rectal cancer. The corresponding incidence rates were 0.26 per 1000 patient-years for anal squamous-cell carcinoma, 0.38 per 1000 patient-years for perianal fistula–related adenocarcinoma, and 0.77 per 1000 patient-years for rectal cancer. Among the 16,575 patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease without anal or perianal lesions, the incidence rate of anal cancer was 0.08 per 1000 patient-years and of rectal cancer was 0.21 per 1000 patient-years. Among factors tested by univariate conditional regression (IBD subtype, disease duration, exposure to immune-suppressive therapy, presence of past or current anal and/or perianal lesions), the presence of past or current anal and/or perianal lesions at cohort entry was the only factor significantly associated with development of anal cancer (odds ratio, 11.2; 95% CI, 1.18-551.51; P = .03).ConclusionsIn an analysis of data from the CESAME cohort in France, patients with anal and/or perianal Crohn’s disease have a high risk of anal cancer, including perianal fistula–related cancer, and a high risk of rectal cancer