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Flood impact and risk assessment for urban city Ghent

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Abstract
Previous studies have reported that Ghent (Belgium) and regions nearby are insufficiently protected against storm surge events from the North Sea, whether combined with high upper drainage by abundant rainfall or not. When a downpour occurs and drains can no longer effectively manage the amount of water, floods in and around the city of Ghent will cause damage to energy and transportation infrastructure and precipitate a disruption to the delivery of services. In this research, an analysis is made for the casualties and economic damage caused by floods due to a downpour that statistically takes place once every twenty, fifty, and hundred years (T20, T50, T100) for the current situation and for the projected situation in 2050. The impact of moderate to extreme floods in the territory of Ghent is investigated, wherein all fragile infrastructure and vulnerable functions are identified and described. Although Ghent appears to be well protected against the high water levels of the rivers Lys and Scheldt, the complex system of drains and canals in and around Ghent is nevertheless insufficient for the downpour of type T50 and T100. This research concludes with an adaptation plan with a series of practical measures to be introduced by 2050, e.g., inserting gates where needed, building sluices to prevent ingress of water into drains, raising floor levels in vulnerable town centre properties, and installing breakwaters. This local-scale assessment is a step towards helping the community to understand coastal flood events and how they might change with sea level rise and storm surge events.
Keywords
urban floods, flood analysis, abundant rainfall, flood risk, flood damage, flood damage assessment

Citation

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:

MLA
Van Ackere, Samuel, and Philippe De Maeyer. “Flood Impact and Risk Assessment for Urban City Ghent.” AAG Annual Meeting, Abstracts, 2017.
APA
Van Ackere, S., & De Maeyer, P. (2017). Flood impact and risk assessment for urban city Ghent. AAG Annual Meeting, Abstracts. Presented at the AAG Annual meeting 2017, Boston, MA, USA.
Chicago author-date
Van Ackere, Samuel, and Philippe De Maeyer. 2017. “Flood Impact and Risk Assessment for Urban City Ghent.” In AAG Annual Meeting, Abstracts.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Van Ackere, Samuel, and Philippe De Maeyer. 2017. “Flood Impact and Risk Assessment for Urban City Ghent.” In AAG Annual Meeting, Abstracts.
Vancouver
1.
Van Ackere S, De Maeyer P. Flood impact and risk assessment for urban city Ghent. In: AAG Annual meeting, Abstracts. 2017.
IEEE
[1]
S. Van Ackere and P. De Maeyer, “Flood impact and risk assessment for urban city Ghent,” in AAG Annual meeting, Abstracts, Boston, MA, USA, 2017.
@inproceedings{8520285,
  abstract     = {{Previous studies have reported that Ghent (Belgium) and regions nearby are insufficiently protected against storm surge events from the North Sea, whether combined with high upper drainage by abundant rainfall or not. 
When a downpour occurs and drains can no longer effectively manage the amount of water, floods in and around the city of Ghent will cause damage to energy and transportation infrastructure and precipitate a disruption to the delivery of services. 
In this research, an analysis is made for the casualties and economic damage caused by floods due to a downpour that statistically takes place once every twenty, fifty, and hundred years (T20, T50, T100) for the current situation and for the projected situation in 2050. The impact of moderate to extreme floods in the territory of Ghent is investigated, wherein all fragile infrastructure and vulnerable functions are identified and described. 
Although Ghent appears to be well protected against the high water levels of the rivers Lys and Scheldt, the complex system of drains and canals in and around Ghent is nevertheless insufficient for the downpour of type T50 and T100.
This research concludes with an adaptation plan with a series of practical measures to be introduced by 2050, e.g., inserting gates where needed, building sluices to prevent ingress of water into drains, raising floor levels in vulnerable town centre properties, and installing breakwaters. This local-scale assessment is a step towards helping the community to understand coastal flood events and how they might change with sea level rise and storm surge events.}},
  author       = {{Van Ackere, Samuel and De Maeyer, Philippe}},
  booktitle    = {{AAG Annual meeting, Abstracts}},
  keywords     = {{urban floods,flood analysis,abundant rainfall,flood risk,flood damage,flood damage assessment}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Boston, MA, USA}},
  title        = {{Flood impact and risk assessment for urban city Ghent}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}