Assessment of flood damages and benefits of remedial actions: "What are the weak links?"; with application to the Loire

Flood damage models are used to determine the impact of measures to reduce damage due to river flooding. Such models are characterized by uncertainty. This uncertainty may affect the decisions made on the basis of the model outcomes. To reduce uncertainty effectively, the most important sources of uncertainty must be found. Uncertainty analysis serves this purpose.\ud \ud By way of a questionnaire experts were asked about their judgment of the significance of uncertainty sources in flood damage assessment. The results of this questionnaire are compared to an uncertainty analysis by Monte Carlo Simulation, which Torterotot (1993) applied to the French model CIFLUPEDE.\ud \ud The paper concludes that the role of uncertainty in flood damage assessment is highly significant and cannot be neglected. Both the experts and the analysis on the flood damage assessment model indicate the hydrologic relations ‘frequence of occurrence — river discharge — river water level’ and the damage estimates as the most important uncertainty sources. For embanked rivers dike breach is the most significant uncertainty source.\ud \ud A question which appears is, taking into account these uncertainties, to what level of precision can flood damage assessment models predict the expected annual flood damage and the costs and revenues of flood alleviation measures? It is of importance to explore the boundaries of flood damage modeling and to try to find ways to move these boundaries. The uncertainty analysis presented in this paper can be seen as one more step on the way to this goal

Flood damage, vulnerability and risk perception - challenges for flood damage research

The current state-of-the-art in flood damage analysis mainly focuses on the economic evaluation of tangible flood effects. It is contended in this discussion paper that important economic, social and ecological aspects of flood-related vulnerabilities are neglected. It is a challenge for flood research to develop a wider perspective for flood damage evaluation. --Flood damage analysis,flood vulnerability,risk perception,cost-benefit analysis,integrated assessment

THE FEASIBILITY OF WETLAND RESTORATION TO REDUCE FLOODING IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY: A CASE STUDY OF THE MAPLE RIVER WATERSHED, NORTH DAKOTA

The economic feasibility of alternative wetland restoration activities to store water and reduce flood damage was evaluated in the Maple River Watershed, North Dakota, a sub-watershed of the Red River of the North Watershed. The evaluation was based on recent hydrologic modeling and wetland restoration studies, the National Wetland Inventory, local land rental values, and site-specific historical flood damage. With benefit-cost ratios ranging from 0.08 to 0.13, neither simple wetland restoration based on plugging existing drains, nor restoration with outlet control devices, nor complete restoration intended to provide a full range of wetland-based environmental services were economically feasible over a 20-year future period. Peak flood stages and flood damage would need to be reduced by between 4 and 12 percent in order for wetland restoration options to break even. The inclusion of additional wetland benefits did not make wetland restoration economically feasible. It is, therefore, not recommended that public funds be used for extensive wetland restoration projects throughout the Maple River Watershed or the Red River Valley in order to reduce flood damage.Economic feasibility, wetland restoration, flooding, Red River Valley, Land Economics/Use,

Flood Damage Assessment in Taipei City Taiwan

In this study, we reviewed the literature on flood damage assessment and collected information for related research in Taiwan to analyze the relationships between direct flood damage, flood frequency, flood depth, and land-use. The procedure for flood damage assessment was then developed that includes the following steps: (a) Scenario simulation of inundation potential. (b) Establishment of the relationship between inundation depth and damage loss for varied land-use. (c) Risk analysis of inundation damage. Taipei City in north Taiwan was adopted as the case study to demonstrate the proposed algorithm. Flood events with return periods of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 years were used for flood hazard analysis to cover possible flooding scenarios. The inundation hazard maps were first generated via hydraulic modelling. The regional flood damage was then estimated using a relationship between inundation depth and damage. The flood damage exceedance probability (EP) curve for Taipei City was constructed following the association of the loss with its probability of occurrence. The flood damage EP curve was further used to integrate the damage assessments for individual flood events for a full probability range presentation of the flood risk. The expected annual damage was calculated by integrating the area under the EP curve

Flood Damage Function Model for Residential area in Kuantan: A Preliminary Study

Flood damage estimation is an essential element in the assessment of flood risk. However, the assessment of flood damage in developing countries is challenging due to the scarcity of historical data. An attempt has been made to assess the flood damages of 2013 Kuantan flood and to develop a flood damage function model based on the socio-economic and property characteristics of the study area. A field survey was conducted to gather damage data and information regarding the flood event using face to face interview technique. Age, household income, educational background, occupation and the distance from river have been identified as the most significant variables that influence the residential flood damages. A damage model to aid in the estimation of the structural and content damage have been developed. The preliminary results can be used in the future flood damage assessment works, especially in the development of flood damage function curve

Satisfaction issues in the reinstatement of flood damaged domestic property

The frequency of flooding is forecast to increase in the UK, as is the number of properties at risk of flooding. Following major floods in England and Wales in recent years, questions have been raised concerning the quality of service received by insured homeowners during the repair of their properties. At present there is little existing research that evaluates homeowners' perceptions and their levels of satisfaction with respect to the performance of their insurers, repair and restoration companies and loss adjusters during flood damage reinstatement claims. As part of a wider investigation, a review is presented of issues relating to satisfaction and service quality. A proposed approach is put forward for measuring satisfaction of insured homeowners in flood claims. Knowledge of the determinants of insured homeowners' satisfaction in flood damage repair works would be beneficial to all stakeholders involved in the claim chain and should lead to an improved service for homeowners

empirical evidence from the republic of Korea's national reforestation program

Thesis(Master) -- KDI School: Master of Development Policy, 2022This paper conducts the empirical analysis of the relationship between forest stock and flood damage based on the Republic of Korea’s national reforestation program (1973-1987). Reconstructing the historical forest statistics of Korea Forest Service and expanding Seo’s (2018) dataset, I capitalize on a growing stock by forest types to examine whether coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests reduced flood damage. From a fixed-effect analysis, my results show that not all types of forests reduce flood damage. I find that coniferous or deciduous forests did not have a mitigation effect on flood damage, whereas mixed forests did. These results may reflect to the lack of a forest management policy and a coniferous-oriented reforestation program in Korea. From the results, this paper suggests that even if reforestation was successful, it might not lessen flood damage if forest management is not appropriately initiated after reforestation. Furthermore, deciduous forests should be adequately planted when one expects afforestation to ease flood damage.masterpublishedKyonggi MI

Flood Damage Model Guidelines

This report outlines the framework for the damage model that should be applied in the project. The intended readership of the report is project partners who will be assessing flood damage in the different case study cities. The model outlined in the report deals with direct tangible damage, and indirect tangible and intangible damage will be described in detail in other deliverables. This report outlines the general principles that should be adhered to in assessing flood damage. Recommendations are provided on the appropriate scale of modelling that should be adopted. The report then goes on to outline the categories of assets that should be considered in assessing direct tangible damage. The report also provides recommendations on the data that should be sought to estimate the value of the assets at risk and the damage functions, which relate to the characteristics of the flooding. Finally, the report concludes with recommendations on how to estimate the Expected Annual Damage. An appendix is included, which provides the technical details of the modelling tool that has been developed on a trial site in Dhaka in Bangladesh. This tool can be applied on a GIS software platform. The details of the algorithms have been provided so that they can be applied in different software packages, if necessary. The tool will be updated as further progress is madeThe work described in this publication was supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme through the grant to the budget of CORFU Collaborative Research on Flood Resilience in Urban Areas, Contract 244047

The climate change double whammy: Flood damage and the determinants of flood insurance coverage, the case of post-Katrina New Orleans

This paper advances scholarly debate on the contradictions of environmental risk management measures by analyzing the determinants of flood insurance coverage among a sample of 403 residents in New Orleans, a city undergoing rapid transformation due to post-Katrina rebuilding efforts and anthropogenic modifications of climate, hydrology, and ecology. The paper focuses on several predictors including subjective flood risk perception, trust in government officials, sociodemographic characteristics, and experience with flood damage. Using binary logistic regression, the results show that the likelihood of having flood insurance coverage is associated with past flood damage and socioeconomic status. Older people (over age 65) are more likely to have flood insurance than younger residents. Race, gender, trust, and perceived flood risk are not statistically significant predictors of flood insurance. We connect our findings to the paradoxes and conflictual dynamics of flood insurance, a major risk mitigation measure. As we point out, in flood-prone cities like New Orleans, flood insurance operates as a double whammy: uninsured or underinsured homes face pervasive risk of both flooding and rising insurance premiums under the conditions of global climate change

Methodology for Agricultural Flood Damage Assessment

This chapter describes a method for assessing flood damage to the agricultural sector, specifically focusing on flood damage to rice crops. The chapter also includes the case studies of flood damage assessment conducted in the Asian river basins, the Pampanga River basin of the Philippines, and the Lower Indus River basin of Pakistan. The assessment was performed by defining flood damage to rice crops as a function of flood depth, duration, and growth stage of rice plants and using depth-duration-damage function curves for each growth stage of rice plants. In the case studies, flood characteristics such as flood depth, duration, and distribution were computed using a rainfall-runoff-inundation (RRI) model. Flood damage to rice crops was assessed for the 2011 flood and 100-year flood events in the case of the Pampanga River basin and for the 2010 flood in the case of Lower Indus River basin. The calculated values of agricultural damage were compared with reported data for validation of methodology, and it was found that the calculated damage reasonably agreed with reported data. The rice-crop damage assessment method described in this chapter can also be applied in other areas for flood risk assessment