Comprehensive Flood Risk Management

This book, written for the benefit of engineering students and practicing engineers alike, is the culmination of the author's four decades of experience related to the subject of electrical measurements, comprising nearly 30 years of experimental research and more than 15 years of teaching at several engineering institutions. The unique feature of this book, apart from covering the syllabi of various universities, is the style of presentation of all important aspects and features of electrical measurements, with neatly and clearly drawn figures, diagrams and colour and b/w photos that illustrate details of instruments among other things, making the text easy to follow and comprehend. Enhancing the chapters are interspersed explanatory comments and, where necessary, footnotes to help better understanding of the chapter contents. Also, each chapter begins with a "recall" to link the subject matter with the related science or phenomenon and fundamental background. The first few chapters of the book comprise "Units, Dimensions and Standards"; "Electricity, Magnetism and Electromagnetism" and "Network Analysis". These topics form the basics of electrical measurements and provide a better understanding of the main topics discussed in later chapters. The last two chapters represent valuable assets of the book, and relate to (a) "Magnetic Measurements", describing many unique features not easily available elsewhere, a good study of which is essential for the design and development of most electric equipment – from motors to transformers and alternators, and (b) "Measurement of Non-electrical Quantities", dealing extensively with the measuring techniques of a number of variables that constitute an important requirement of engineering measurement practices. The book is supplemented by ten appendices covering various aspects dealing with the art and science of electrical measurement and of relevance to some of the topics in main chapters. Other useful features of the book include an elaborate chapter-by-chapter list of symbols, worked examples, exercises and quiz questions at the end of each chapter, and extensive authors' and subject index. This book will be of interest to all students taking courses in electrical measurements as a part of a B.Tech. in electrical engineering. Professionals in the field of electrical engineering will also find the book of use.

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.

Floods are of increasing public concern world-wide due to increasing damages and unacceptably high numbers of injuries. Previous approaches of flood protection led to limited success especially during recent extreme events. Therefore, an integrated flood risk management is required which takes into consideration both the hydrometeorogical and the societal processes. Moreover, real effects of risk mitigation measures have to be critically assessed. The book draws a comprehensive picture of all these aspects and their interrelations. It furthermore provides a lot of detail on earth observation, flood hazard modelling, climate change, flood forecasting, modelling vulnerability, mitigation measures and the various dimensions of management strategies. In addition to local and regional results of science, engineering and social science investigations on modelling and management, transboundary co-operation of large river catchments are of interest. Based on this, the book is a valuable source of the state of the art in flood risk management but also covers future demands for research and practice in terms of flood issues.

Floods cause distress and damage wherever and whenever they happen. Flooding from rivers, estuaries and the sea threatens many millions of people worldwide and economic and insurance losses from flooding have increased significantly since 1990. Across the European Union, flood management policy is changing in response to the EU Directive on the ass

Approaches to avoid loss of life and limit disruption and damage from flooding have changed significantly in recent years. Worldwide, there has been a move from a strategy of flood defence to one of flood risk management. Flood risk management includes flood prevention using hard defences, where appropriate, but also requires that society learns to live with floods and that stakeholders living in flood prone areas develop coping strategies to increase their resilience to flood impacts when these occur. This change in approach represents a paradigm shift which stems from the realisation that continuing to strengthen and extend conventional flood defences is unsustainable economically, environmentally, and in terms of social equity. Flood risk management recognises that a sustainable approach must rest on integrated measures that reduce not only the probability of flooding, but also the consequences. This is essential as increases in the probability of inundation are inevitable in many areas of the world due to climate change, while socio-economic development will lead to spiralling increases in the consequences of flooding unless land use in floodplains is carefully planned. Flood Risk Science and Management provides an extensive and comprehensive synthesis of current research in flood management; providing a multi-disciplinary reference text covering a wide range of flood management topics. Its targeted readership is the international research community (from research students through to senior staff) and flood management professionals, such as engineers, planners, government officials and those with flood management responsibility in the public sector. By using the concept of case study chapters, international coverage is given to the topic, ensuring a world-wide relevance.

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.

Existing coastal management and defense approaches are not well suited to meet the challenges of climate change and related uncertanities. Professionals in this field need a more dynamic, systematic and multidisciplinary approach. Written by an international group of experts, Coastal Risk Management in a Changing Climate provides innovative, multidisciplinary best practices for mitigating the effects of climate change on coastal structures. Based on the Theseus program, the book includes eight study sites across Europe, with specific attention to the most vulnerable coastal environments such as deltas, estuaries and wetlands, where many large cities and industrial areas are located. Integrated risk assessment tools for considering the effects of climate change and related uncertainties Presents latest insights on coastal engineering defenses Provides integrated guidelines for setting up optimal mitigation measures Provides directly applicable tools for the design of mitigation measures Highlights socio-economic perspectives in coastal mitigation

Floods take a heavy toll on society, costing lives, damaging buildings and property, disrupting livelihoods, and sometimes necessitating federal disaster relief, which has risen to record levels in recent years. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created in 1968 to reduce the flood risk to individuals and their reliance on federal disaster relief by making federal flood insurance available to residents and businesses if their community adopted floodplain management ordinances and minimum standards for new construction in flood prone areas. Insurance rates for structures built after a flood plain map was adopted by the community were intended to reflect the actual risk of flooding, taking into account the likelihood of inundation, the elevation of the structure, and the relationship of inundation to damage to the structure. Today, rates are subsidized for one-fifth of the NFIP's 5.5 million policies. Most of these structures are negatively elevated, that is, the elevation of the lowest floor is lower than the NFIP construction standard. Compared to structures built above the base flood elevation, negatively elevated structures are more likely to incur a loss because they are inundated more frequently, and the depths and durations of inundation are greater. Tying Flood Insurance to Flood Risk for Low-Lying Structures in the Floodplain studies the pricing of negatively elevated structures in the NFIP. This report review current NFIP methods for calculating risk-based premiums for these structures, including risk analysis, flood maps, and engineering data. The report then evaluates alternative approaches for calculating risk-based premiums and discusses engineering hydrologic and property assessment data needs to implement full risk-based premiums. The findings and conclusions of this report will help to improve the accuracy and precision of loss estimates for negatively elevated structures, which in turn will increase the credibility, fairness, and transparency of premiums for policyholders.

This book tackles the question of how we can manage flood-related disaster risks, such as from typhoons, monsoons, and torrential rain, which have been intensified by climate change and have generated unprecedented floods, landslides and debris flows worldwide. It presents recent conceptual developments in disasters, risk and resilience, and surveys UN policies on environment and development as well as disaster management. Sustainable and resilient development requires an integrated approach and human empowerment. Japan provides a useful example of effective flood management and disaster recovery in its current strategies for river and basin integrated flood management. Very few English-language books present up-to-date Japanese experiences for students and professionals in the context of global trends, relevant to a time of climate change and with global application. • Outlines an integrated approach to flood risk management in the context of UN initiatives • Details Japanese good practice developed through culture and the needs of a changing society Integrated Flood Risk Management is ideal for professionals working for environmental agencies, hydrologists and engineers, as well as students of disaster management and water resources development.