The 2021 flood event in the Dutch Meuse and tributaries from a hydraulic and morphological perspective

In July of 2021, large areas in the catchment of the Meuse River in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany were affected by extreme rainfall and floods. This paper presents the hydraulic and morphological data that were collected during and after the flood. The data were analysed to understand the hydraulic and morphological functioning of the...

Klimaatadaptatie in het rivierengebied: Een geo-ecologisch perspectief.

Door klimaatverandering verandert het afvoerregime van onze grote rivieren. Hoogwaters worden hoger en frequenter, laagwaters lager en langduriger. Hoe we daarop reageren hangt af van hoe we klimaatverandering zien: als opgave, of als kans om onvolkomenheden aan te pakken. In dit artikel presenteren we aanzetten voor een meer geo-ecologisch...

Room for Rivers: Risk Reduction by Enhancing the Flood Conveyance Capacity of The Netherlands’ Large Rivers

The Netherlands has just finished implementing the Room for the Rivers program along the Rhine and Meuse Rivers in response to increasing river discharges. Recently, making more room for the river is, however, being challenged for future application because the flood defenses are assessed to be too weak and will need reinforcement anyway. To be...

Robust river systems: on assessing the sensitivity of embanked rivers to discharge uncertainties, exemplified for the Netherlands' main rivers

There is increasing attention for the robustness of systems, in view of more frequent and more extreme weather events. Calls to increase a system's robustness are usually motivated by the resulting reduced sensitivity to extreme events and uncertainties about their probability of occurrence. The concept has been elaborated for flood risk systems...

Making room for rivers: Quantification of benefits from a flood risk perspective

Since 1996, the Netherlands has adopted a flood risk management policy based on making more room for the rivers. Currently, the focus in flood risk management is being adapted again, in view of increasing societal vulnerability and foreseeable effects of climate change. In this context, the choice between making more room for the river and/or...

Implementing new flood protection standards: Obstacles to adaptive management and how to overcome these

The Netherlands is updating its flood protection, whilst fully taking into account climate change and socioeconomic development. This translates in 'anticipatory standards' which need to be met in 2050, and which apply for the then foreseen climate and economy. Whilst the government maintains to have adopted a policy of adaptive planning and...

Consequences of floods: Visits to other countries

Consequences of floods: 2D hydraulic simulations for the case study area Central Holland

Consequences of floods: The development of a method to estimate the loss of life