Mapping the Zone

Mapping the Zone
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2009-06-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309130573

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps portray the height and extent to which flooding is expected to occur, and they form the basis for setting flood insurance premiums and regulating development in the floodplain. As such, they are an important tool for individuals, businesses, communities, and government agencies to understand and deal with flood hazard and flood risk. Improving map accuracy is therefore not an academic question-better maps help everyone. Making and maintaining an accurate flood map is neither simple nor inexpensive. Even after an investment of more than $1 billion to take flood maps into the digital world, only 21 percent of the population has maps that meet or exceed national flood hazard data quality thresholds. Even when floodplains are mapped with high accuracy, land development and natural changes to the landscape or hydrologic systems create the need for continuous map maintenance and updates. Mapping the Zone examines the factors that affect flood map accuracy, assesses the benefits and costs of more accurate flood maps, and recommends ways to improve flood mapping, communication, and management of flood-related data.

Coping with Floods

Coping with Floods
Author: Giuseppe Rossi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 756
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9401110980

Floods are natural hazards whose effects can deeply affect the economic and environmental equilibria of a region. Quality of life of people living in areas close to rivers depends on both the risk that a flood would occur and the reliability of flood forecast, warning and control systems. Tools for forecasting and mitigating floods have been developed through research in the recent past. Two innovations currently influence flood hazard mitigation, after many decades of lack of significant progress: they are the development of new technologies for real-time flood forecast and warning (based on weather radars and satellites) and a shift from structural to non-structural flood control measures, due to increased awareness of the importance of protecting the environment and the adverse impacts of hydraulic works on it. This book is a review of research progress booked in the improvements of forecast capability and the control of floods. Mostly the book presents the results of recent research in hydrology, modern techniques of real-time forecast and warning, and ways of controlling floods for smaller impacts on the environment. A number of case studies of floods in different geographical areas are also presented. Scientists and specialists working in fields of hydrology, environmental protection and hydraulic engineering will appreciate this book for its theoretical and practical content.

Global Flood Hazard

Global Flood Hazard
Author: Guy J-P. Schumann
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2018-07-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1119217865

Global Flood Hazard Subject Category Winner, PROSE Awards 2019, Earth Science Selected from more than 500 entries, demonstrating exceptional scholarship and making a significant contribution to the field of study. Flooding is a costly natural disaster in terms of damage to land, property and infrastructure. This volume describes the latest tools and technologies for modeling, mapping, and predicting large-scale flood risk. It also presents readers with a range of remote sensing data sets successfully used for predicting and mapping floods at different scales. These resources can enable policymakers, public planners, and developers to plan for, and respond to, flooding with greater accuracy and effectiveness. Describes the latest large-scale modeling approaches, including hydrological models, 2-D flood inundation models, and global flood forecasting models Showcases new tools and technologies such as Aqueduct, a new web-based tool used for global assessment and projection of future flood risk under climate change scenarios Features case studies describing best-practice uses of modeling techniques, tools, and technologies Global Flood Hazard is an indispensable resource for researchers, consultants, practitioners, and policy makers dealing with flood risk, flood disaster response, flood management, and flood mitigation.

Flood Risk Management in Europe

Flood Risk Management in Europe
Author: Selina Begum
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 532
Release: 2007-06-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1402042000

This valuable edition brings together 25 peer reviewed articles on technical, socio-economic, environmental and policy aspects of flood risk management. Some emerging technologies are presented and several future challenges are identified. Thus the book forms an excellent reference for the engineers, scientists, planners, policy-makers, researchers, insurance industry and all the practitioners involved in flood risk management.

Floods in a Megacity

Floods in a Megacity
Author: Ashraf Dewan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2013-03-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9400758758

Flooding is one of the most devastating natural hazards in the world. Available records suggest that both flood frequency and severity are on the rise and this is likely to worsen in the context of climate change. As population, infrastructure and poverty grow rapidly in developing countries, particularly in urban agglomerations of 10 million people or more, floods could cause widespread devastation, economic damage and loss of life. Assessment of vulnerability and risk from naturally occurring phenomena is therefore imperative in order to achieve urban sustainability. This book uses geospatial techniques to evaluate hazards, risk and vulnerability at a metropolitan scale in a data-scarce country. An empirical study was performed using remote sensing, GIS and census data. This research offers a new approach to mapping population, infrastructures and communities at risk which can greatly contribute to the deeper understanding of flood disasters in a rapidly expanding megacity. Examples shown in this book are from Dhaka Megacity, however, the techniques and methods can easily be implemented in medium to large cities of similar characteristics. The book is essential reading for hazard researchers, geospatial scientists, disaster management professionals, geographers, urban planners, and social scientists. Ashraf M. Dewan is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Spatial Sciences at Curtin University, Western Australia (on leave from his substantive position as Associate Professor in the Geography & Environment Department at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh).

Cities and Flooding

Cities and Flooding
Author: Abhas K. Jha
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 639
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821394770

Urban flooding is an increasing challenge today to the expanding cities and towns of developing countries. This Handbook is a state-of-the art, user-friendly operational guide that shows decision makers and specialists how to effectively manage the risk of floods in rapidly urbanizing settings--and within the context of a changing climate.

Flood Risk Assessment and Management

Flood Risk Assessment and Management
Author: Andreas H. Schumann
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2011-01-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9048199174

Flood catastrophes which happened world-wide have shown that it is not sufficient to characterize the hazard caused by the natural phenomenon "flood" with the well-known 3M-approach (measuring, mapping and modelling). Due to the recent shift in paradigms from a safety oriented approach to risk based planning it became necessary to consider the harmful impacts of hazards. The planning tasks changed from attempts to minimise hazards towards interventions to reduce exposure or susceptibility and nowadays to enhance the capacities to increase resilience. Scientific interest shifts more and more towards interdisciplinary approaches, which are needed to avoid disaster. This book deals with many aspects of flood risk management in a comprehensive way. As risks depend on hazard and vulnerabilities, not only geophysical tools for flood forecasting and planning are presented, but also socio-economic problems of flood management are discussed. Starting with precipitation and meteorological tools to its forecasting, hydrological models are described in their applications for operational flood forecasts, considering model uncertainties and their interactions with hydraulic and groundwater models. With regard to flood risk planning, regionalization aspects and the options to utilize historic floods are discussed. New hydrological tools for flood risk assessments for dams and reservoirs are presented. Problems and options to quantify socio-economic risks and how to consider them in multi-criteria assessments of flood risk planning are discussed. This book contributes to the contemporary efforts to reduce flood risk at the European scale. Using many real-world examples, it is useful for scientists and practitioners at different levels and with different interests.

Elevation Data for Floodplain Mapping

Elevation Data for Floodplain Mapping
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2007-08-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309185556

Floodplain maps serve as the basis for determining whether homes or buildings require flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Approximately $650 billion in insured assets are now covered under the program. FEMA is modernizing floodplain maps to better serve the program. However, concerns have been raised as to the adequacy of the base map information available to support floodplain map modernization. Elevation Data for Floodplain Mapping shows that there is sufficient two-dimensional base map imagery to meet FEMA's flood map modernization goals, but that the three-dimensional base elevation data that are needed to determine whether a building should have flood insurance are not adequate. This book makes recommendations for a new national digital elevation data collection program to redress the inadequacy. Policy makers; property insurance professionals; federal, local, and state governments; and others concerned with natural disaster prevention and preparedness will find this book of interest.