Preparing for severe flooding: Flood risk management research leading to better flood preparedness

Abstract

Catastrophic flooding events across the world are occurring with escalating consequences. This year, we have already seen severe flooding in New Zealand, China and Chile, to name just a few. Flood damages, exacerbated by changes in climate impacting weather patterns and alterations in land use, are escalating dramatically. The urgent need for a community to be well-prepared for the next flood event is paramount across society to reduce the devastating consequences and increase resiliency to flooding.Ten years ago, a catastrophic flood event in June 2013 across the province of Alberta, Canada, and in particular, the City of Calgary, brought upwards of 350 mm of rainfall in the hardest hit region (Pomeroy et al., 2016). A combination of heavy rainfall and snowmelt in the mountains resulted in flood levels along the Bow and Elbow rivers reaching 100-year and 200-year levels, respectively (O'Donovan, 2023). The flood resulted in loss of life of five people, displacement of 100,000 people across the province, and an estimated economic impact of $6 billion (CDN) in flood damages (Tanner & Árvai, 2018

Ciujung river basin flood risk assessment due to climate change and its countermeasure

“…Climate change in Ciujung has been proved by increasing annual average of temperature and precipitation [4]. In addition, Therefore, understanding flood-vulnerable areas to anticipate flood events, increasing community capacity, and having infrastructure plans that can reduce flood risk are substantial factor for effective flood preparedness [5]. The ability to predict floods accurately become important for flood risk assessment [6].…”

“…Figure 4 also shown an increasing trend in annual maximum daily rainfall in Ciujung River Basin, indicating the effects of climate change factor. This shows an agreement with previous study.Therefore, understanding flood-vulnerable areas to anticipate flood events, increasing community capacity, and having infrastructure plans that can reduce flood risk are substantial factor for effective flood preparedness[5]. The ability to predict floods accurately become important for flood risk assessment[6].…”