Floods are natural hazards that have shaped the landscape of our environment over thousands of years. Recently, the effect of floods has been intensified by the sustained population growth, changes in land use, and climate change with more intense rainfall patterns. The impact of these effects depends on the extent of the flood and temporal nature of their occurrence, as well as on the vulnerability and associated risk of the exposed communities and elements (infrastructure, ecosystems, etc). Most flood hazards result from insufficient drainage systems, breaching or topping of levees or dams, and intense rainfall events (Kulkarni, et al., 2014).
One of the most devastating effects of flood events is the loss of life, along with the damage to properties. Other effects include economic loss, disturbance of ecological resources, food shortages and starvation (Haq et al., 2012). The amount of warning time that is provided to the population at risk of flooding has been described as key factor to prevent the loss of lives (Graham, 1999). Therefore, adequate prediction capability is essential to mitigate flooding damages and establish flood-warning systems.
Floods have a complex spatial and temporal dynamic that motivates their study. The spatial dimension of floods ranges from the local to the regional scale, while the temporal dimension varies from slow floods (days) to flash floods (minutes). The spatial extent, variability and magnitude of floods has been addressed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (Crossetto et al., 2000), while the temporal dynamic has been tackled using hydrologic and hydraulic modeling (Correia, et al., 1998).
The coupling of GIS and flood modeling is a developing field. Th...
... middle of paper ...
...032.
22. Paiva, R. C., Collischonn, W., & Tucci, C. E. (2011). Large scale hydrologic and hydrodynamic modeling using limited data and a GIS based approach.Journal of Hydrology, 406(3), 170-181.
23. Sanders, B. F. (2007). Evaluation of on-line DEMs for flood inundation modeling. Advances in Water Resources, 30(8), 1831-1843.
24. Sarhadi, A., Soltani, S., & Modarres, R. (2012). Probabilistic flood inundation mapping of ungauged rivers: Linking GIS techniques and frequency analysis.Journal of Hydrology, 458, 68-86.
25. Qi, H., Qi, P., & Altinakar, M. S. (2013). GIS-Based Spatial Monte Carlo Analysis for Integrated Flood Management with Two Dimensional Flood Simulation. Water resources management, 27(10), 3631-3645.
26. Zerger, Andre. "Examining GIS decision utility for natural hazard risk modelling." Environmental Modelling & Software 17, no. 3 (2002): 287-294.
Floods can be a very dangerous natural disaster because a flood has the power to move cars, buildings, and cause massive damage to life and property. Even the small floods that are only 30 centimetres or so can do massive damage to houses and if the
New Orleans, Louisiana lies at the second lowest elevation among major cities in the United States. It is a city surrounded by water, making it almost like an island. To counter this dangerous combination of the low elevation along with the lakes, rivers and swamps surrounding it, the Army Corps of Engineers built a series of levees around the city to foster its protection. It is these very same levees however that might doom the city should a Category 3 hurricane ever hit. Our statistical analyses examined the current belief that there is a 39% probability that New Orleans will be hit by a major hurricane and based on the resulting Z-score, rejected that belief. We did find however that the probability, while not 39%, was still in the 30th percentile range, which should still be a major cause for concern among the leaders and residences of the city of New Orleans.
A major flood on any river is both a long-term and a short-term event, particularly any river basin where human influence has exerted "control" over the ri...
The one feature common to the Hoover Dam, the Mississippi River and the Three Gorges Dam is that they all try to control nature’s swings, specifically in the form of flooding. Before the Hoover dam was built, the Colorado river “used to flood spectacularly.but after 1900 the Colorado provoked a vehement response” (Pg 177). The response was simple, but large. The U.S. built several large dams, including the Hoover dam, on the Colorado to decrease its flooding and increase power and irrigation. Unfortunately, just as human control of the Colorado’s flooding increased, its organisms and habitats were detrimentally influenced, and the water became more and more salinated.
In the binational area of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez flooding has become a way of life due to the scarcity of rain and desert climate. Fortunately, meteorologist, geologist and city planners are continuously working to improve city prior to a storm in order to mitigate any financial hardships during and after a flood. The city has to take in account past events in order to improve infrastructure. They also rely on meteorologist to study how the weather is reacting so they can anticipate the next system and how it will hit this region. The primary expert that contributes to this vital research are the Geologist, who have brought to light the cause and effects during drastic climate events. In this report, it will document infrastructure affects, stormwater management, Climate Whiplash and thoughts from the geologist on the desert-flood relationship.
manmade levees, dikes, and other flood control measures, is a case in point. In a
References: Mairson, Alan, "The Great Flood of '93," National Geographic, vol. 93, pages 93-93. 185 (January 1994), pp. 187-187. 42-81. The s. National Biological Service, Department of the Interior, "Environmental Management Technical Center," http://www.emtc.nbs.gov (1996).
Currently, over half of the world’s population lives in urban based areas (Owrangi et al, 2014), and this increase in population is expected to contribute to further increases in flood risks (ibid). Vancouver has achieved rapid socioeconomic development due to the increased employment opportunities and growth rates, directly stressing local natural resources by increasing population and urbanization (Owrangi et al, 2014).
The Cumberland and Cumberland River basin experienced a 36 hour rainfall that produced flooding in Nashville and its greater area (After Action Report, II). The 2010 two day storm was believed to be greater than a 100 year event. Storm activity began on May 1st and 2nd which created a large scale flash flood along the Cumberland and Lower Tennessee rivers, and within its tributaries. Historically the Cumberland River basin has received great amounts of precipitation and has experienced extreme rainfall before, making it prone to severe flooding (After Action Report, I). Some of the historic floods that have affected the Cumberland River are the December 1926, January 1927, January 1937 and March 1975 floods, which produced a maximum flood height in much of the river. Before the May 2010 flood, the Cumberland River reached a flood stage of 45.26 feet during the May 1987 flood which was a result of a series of flooding events that took place during an extensive amount of time (After Action Report, 4). The 2010 flood which affected much of Nashville acted more like a flash flood, which produced record breaking rainfall for much of the area. According to the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) on April 30th rainfall totaled 7.8 inches across central Tennessee. The report also states that there was a widespread of rainfall equaling to 2 to 6 inch in total, over southeastern US stretching to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Rainfall for parts of western Tennessee and Kentucky totaled 3 to 4 inches with a high of 4.65 inches (After Action Report, III). As it is stated by the report areas around Nashville received more than 13 inches of rain in a span of 36 hours, which doubled the record set by the September 1979 flood event. At th...
Ubilla, Javier, Tarek Abdoun, Inthuorn Sasanakul, Michael Sharp, Scott Steedman, Wipawi Vanadit-Ellis, and Thomas Zimmie. "New Orleans Levee System Performance during Hurricane Katrina: London Avenue and Orleans Canal South." Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering (2008): n. pag. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
This book is another addition to the list of introductory GIS textbooks. The book focuses on topics that are generally required to be learned in an introductory GIS class. The author infuses mathematical equations and formulas throughout the book to explain GIS tasks. This is helpful for the student to learn the fundamentals of GIS rather than simply learning GIS software. Apart from the occasional typographical errors and incomplete sentences, the chapters are generally readable and contain several flowcharts, pictures and the book is moderately priced. Each chapter ends with study questions and references. The author has tried to organize the chapters in ‘input-processing-output model’ or ‘model-view-control process’ or ‘use case of information function’ formats. In...
Observational records indicate that sea level has already risen between 10 and 25 cm globally over the past 100 years. In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has projected a sea-level rise of 15-95 cm as a consequence of global warming. Sea-level rise will also increase the depth of coastal waters and increase inland and upstream salinity intrusion, both of which affect fresh and brackish water wetlands. Sea-level rise has the potential for increasing the severity of storm surges, particularly in areas where coastal habitats and barrier shorelines are rapidly deteriorating. These direct consequences of global- and regional-scale changes will increase the vulnerability of coastal wetlands which are already heavily impacted by human activities.
A Flood Hydrograph and the Factors That Affect its Form A flood hydrograph is a graph of two axis, 'discharge' and 'time'. Plotted on the graph is the amount of discharge over a period of time. By looking at a hydrograph, a lot of information and data can be gathered about the river, the precipitation, the surrounding area and vegetation etc. The gradient, height and length of a line can tell you a lot of this information. There are many different factors that can affect the appearance and shape of a hydrograph.
Erik Swyngedouw, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 103, No. 2, SPECIAL ISSUE: Geographies of Water (March 2013), pp. 261-270
The least violent type of natural disasters is the flood; it is one of the most frequent hazards. A flood can affect local areas or a very large area affecting entire river deltas. Not all foods are alike, some of them develop slowly over a period days and some of them occur in a matter of minutes. The floods that develop quickly are known as flash floods; flash floods have a dangerous wall of thunderous water that carries rocks, mud and other different debris. If you live in a low-lying area near water you more prone to flooding, the smallest streams, gullies, creeks, and streambeds can cause a flood. Floods are often not a common thought when you think of a natural disaster, but they can be fatal, destroy homes, businesses, and roads, happen when you least expect, and happen when you are not prepared (FEMA:Flood). An extreme example of this type of natural disaster is the flood in eastern Australia last month; the flood, which lasted for weeks, caused thirty dea...