An Information System for Risk-Vulnerability Assessment to Flood

An exhaustive knowledge of flood risk in different spatial locations is essential for developing an effective flood mitigation strategy for a watershed. In the present study, a risk-vulnerability analysis to flood is performed. Four components of vulnerability to flood: 1) physical, 2) economic, 3) infrastructure and 4) social; are evaluated individually using a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. The proposed methodology estimates the impact on infrastructure vulnerability due to inundation of critical facilities, emergency service stations and bridges. The components of vulnerability are combined to determine an overall vulnerability to flood. The exposures of land use/land cover and soil type (permeability) to flood are also considered to include their effects on severity of flood. The values of probability of occurrence of flood, vulnerability to flood, and exposures of land use and soil type to flood are used to finally compute flood risk at different locations in a watershed. The proposed methodology is implemented for six major damage centers in the Upper Thames River watershed, located in the South-Western Ontario, Canada to assess the flood risk. An information system is developed for systematic presentation of the flood risk, probability of occurrence of flood, vulnerability to flood, and exposures of land use and soil type to flood by postal code regions or Forward Sortation Areas (FSAs). The flood information system is designed to provide support for different users, i.e., general public, decision-makers and water management professionals. An interactive analysis tool is developed within the information system to assist in evaluation of the flood risk in response to a change in land use pattern.