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  • Essay / Flood risk management strategies in Europe

    Catastrophic floods cause tragic mortality and large-scale economic losses. As a natural disaster, it is implausible to reduce flood losses to zero, but appropriate measures can reduce the likelihood and limit the impact of flooding. In addition to social and economic damage, flooding can have serious environmental consequences, for example when facilities containing large quantities of toxic chemicals are neutralized or wetlands are destroyed. Europe has identified the imminent flood risk in the European region and to support the transition from traditional flood defense strategies to a basin-wide flood risk management approach, it has adopted a new directive in 2007 (2007/60/EC). One of the major tasks of these directives is to involve Member States in the implementation of flood risk management plans. To comply with the directives, mapping of flood hazards and risks in each territory is necessary and forms the basis of flood risk management plans. This document provides an overview of the detailed functions outside the stages of a flood risk directive with respective illustrations and the measures taken to implement the EU-wide flood risk regulation in Europe. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Over the ages, the problem of flooding has gained a particularly notorious reputation. With global warming and increasing urbanization, the severity of the problem has increased exponentially. However, social, legal and scientific studies on transboundary flood risk management are rare, fragmented and limited in scope. At the same time, collaborative measures and strategies for transboundary flooding, i.e. floods that originate in one country and then spread downstream to another, are poorly understood. Generally speaking, flooding usually occurs when water overflows beyond its normal limits and temporarily covers areas of land. Like any event, a flood is also broken down into two high-level components: (1) Probability of an event occurring (2) Impacts associated with the event. This document aims to explain step by step the EU Directive's plan, the process and the measures taken to mitigate potential flood risks that Europe may face in the future. Floods are normally caused by natural events such as prolonged excessive rainfall and thunderstorms over a short period of time. weather, high tide combined with storm conditions, ice jams and insufficient drainage systems and inadequate maintenance of waterways. The reason behind these causes can be explained in three categories as follows: a) Overflow due to heavy rains: After heavy rains, the river overflows its banks and the water engulfs the entire valley far from its rainfall zone. Other tributaries add to the water flow causing a flood. b) Accumulation of water in basins: Under normal weather conditions, water is absorbed into the soil and merges with the water table. When soil is saturated, water accumulates in low areas. Runoff quickly fills the valley during heavy rains, causing flooding. c) Urbanization in flood-prone areas: excess water passing through the drainage system accumulates in areasbass. It is now in poor condition due to excessive land use, land cover from buildings and impervious surface like concrete. Although floods themselves are a unique phenomenon, they are further classified into different types based on their causes, namely: a) Coastal floods or flash flood: Coastal floods occur in areas located on the coast of the sea, ocean or other large bodies of open water. Extreme weather causes unstable tidal conditions when a hurricane and other storms push water onto the shore. This is often the greatest threat associated with a tropical storm. Various factors like the strength, size, speed, and direction of the storm help determine the extent of the storm's resulting coastal flooding. Coastal flooding models take this information into account along with historical storm data from the affected area to estimate the likelihood and effectiveness of a storm. b) River flooding or fluvial flooding: excessive rainfall over a prolonged period causes a river to overflow, leading to river flooding. This is also due to melting snow and ice jams. Damage from river flooding can be widespread, as overflowing affects smaller rivers downstream, often causing river embankments and levees to open and flood adjacent areas. River flood severity is measured by the amount of precipitation in an area, the duration of precipitation, previous records of soil saturation, and the terrain surrounding the river system. The accumulation of flood waters depends on the region. In hilly areas, flooding can occur within minutes of heavy rain, while in flat areas floodwaters rise slowly and often remain for several days. To determine the likelihood of a river flooding, it is necessary to take into account past and forecast rainfall, current river levels and temperature. . It is commonly accepted that you must be near a body of water to be at risk. Pluvial flooding debunks the myth, as urban areas are also prone to flooding. Intense rainfall saturating the urban drainage system and runoff from rain on slopes unable to absorb water are some examples. Pluvial flooding usually occurs in combination with coastal and riverine flooding. These floods are likely to cause significant material damage. Catastrophic flooding causes tragic mortality and large-scale economic losses. In addition to social and economic losses, these floods also have serious environmental consequences, for example when facilities storing large quantities of toxic chemicals are submerged. Since 2000, floods in Europe have resulted in at least 700 deaths, the displacement of around half a million people and around €25 billion in assured economic losses. The following figure shows the impact of flooding in Europe from 1950 to 2005. Figure 1: Major floods in the EU, Bulgaria and Romania between 1950 and 2005. The numbers on the map represent each flood. During this period, 3,539 floods of all types occurred worldwide, of which 298 occurred in current EU member states. It cost approximately 5,500 lives and caused approximately $106 billion in damage. 01-23 being flush floods, 24-44 river floods and 45-47 storm floods. The triangulated features on the map represent very large regional events.Numerous floods have ravaged Europe over the centuries, making urban planning a daunting challenge. The coming decades are likely to be marked by the risk of flooding in Europe and even greater economic damage. River flooding is the most common type of flooding in Europe. The following figure represents the recurrence of a flood in Europe between 1998 and 2005. Some areas are more affected than others. Between 1998 and 2005, north-west Romania, northern Italy, central and southern Germany, south-east France and eastern England faced severe frequent flooding. Many measures are taken, such as the construction of dykes and the use of sandbags. But these are only measures to avoid and cope, to a certain extent, with flooding. For the estimated probability of potential flooding, these measures are not sufficient to reduce the impacts associated with flooding. This is why the European flood risk directives came into existence in 2007. Directives 2007/60/EC, flood risk assessment and management or also called flood risk directives came into force on November 26, 2007. Unlike a regulation, it does not set rules on how the objective is achieved. must be achieved, which means that the guidelines do not set any priorities. Each Member State (MS) can collaboratively set a target and decide which national measures are necessary. This gives the MS plenty of room to choose its own approach. The Flood Risk Directives work in coordination with the Water Framework Directive. Flood Action Program in which flood risk management plans and river basin management plans are coordinated through public participation procedures (ns, June 2013). These strengthen the public's rights to access information about flood risk and to have a say in the planning process. The FD requires that wherever a significant flood risk is identified, maps must be produced to show its potential extent and flood consequences. Based on the generated maps, Member States must establish a flood risk management plan with the aim of reducing the associated risk to an acceptable level. Under this plan, a wide range of measures are considered to achieve the objective, which depends on the nature and scale of the problems. To facilitate this process, the FD has a three-phase approach. The detailed measures of the action plan are explained in the following phases. Phase 01: Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment This is the first stage of the FD where a preliminary flood risk assessment must be carried out by Member States for each river basin district. Member States were asked to complete the assessment by 22 December 2011. The assessment carried out was based on readily available information, such as records and studies based on long-term developments. According to article 13.1, the FD has an exception to this obligation (ns, June 2013). Member States may not undertake the flood risk assessment in two cases: If the area has already been identified before 22 December 2010 as an area of ​​significant flood risk. If it has already been decided before December 22, 2010, to establish flood risk and hazard maps. for the specified area. The risk assessment must be reviewed and updated as necessary by December 22, 2018, and then subject to reviews every six years thereafter. Phase 02: development of flood risk maps and flood risk maps. Phase 02 involves the writing of.