INTRODUCTION: Flooding resulting from hurricanes and other extreme storm events is a prominent risk along the coasts. These coastal areas are typically of low elevation and relief, making land and infrastructure highly susceptible to inundation by storm surge and waves. The severity of this threat is exacerbated by sea level rise and a possible increase in storm frequency and strength due to cl...

Ecological impairment and flooding caused by urbanization can be expressed numerically by calculating the risks throughout the watershed (floodplain) and along the main stems of the streams. The risks can be evaluated in terms of the present and/or future. This article describes the methodologies for ascertaining the risks in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment. The objective...

The paper presents research results on flood risk mitigation by the controlled flooding of a retention area on the middle reaches of the Elbe River. The retention area consists of six large polders and the floodplain of a tributary, the Havel, and is located near the Havel’s confluence with the Elbe River. The total retention volume of both the polders and the Havel floodplain amounts to approx...

There has been much recent emphasis on sustainable development of water resources in that the needs of the present generation are fulfilled without compromising future generations to meet their needs. Also, systems of flood protection and management are being increasingly considered in the context of sustainable development. Destructive floods have jeopardized settlements located near rivers si...

Within the global framework of the climate change, according to most Regional Climate Models the maximum peak discharges in river will increase in importance and frequency. Therefore the people will have to face worst inundation conditions. In order to protect themselves from the increasing flood risk, the communities have to draw up suitable flood protection measures. The selection and the eva...

In flood risk assessment, there remains a lack of analytical frameworks capturing the dynamics emerging from two-way feedbacks between physical and social processes, such as adaptation and levee effect. The former, ‘‘adaptation effect’’, relates to the observation that the occurrence of more frequent flooding is often associated with decreasing vulnerability. The latter, ‘‘levee effect’’, relat...

Floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters in terms of human hardship and economic loss. In recent years Europe suffered over 100 major damaging floods. Since 1998, floods have caused damages of some 700 facilities, the displacement of about half a million people and at least 25 billion Euro in insured economic losses. In the United States, about 90 percent of the damage ca...