Flood risk reduction capacityof resilience measures in the Geul catchment

In the summer of 2021 severe flooding occurred in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands. High damages have been estimated in the Geul catchment, leading up to 250 million euro. Flood risk management in The Netherlands is mostly focussed on reducing the probability of flooding and in lesser extent on damage mitigation. Especially in areas such as...

Improvement of the Flood Early Warning System for Valkenburg along the Geul River

The combination of climate change and increased urbanization has resulted in cities with no historic flooding experience suddenly vulnerable to extreme flood events. Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of rainfalls, whereas urbanization decreases the total porous surface area, resulting in pluvial (rainwater) flooding. One such...

Validating Flood Damage Estimations: A framework using plausibility and empirical data

Flood risk models are frequently used to analyse the climate- and socio-economic-driven impact of flooding hazards. However, model validation is rarely done adequately due to the rare occurrence of floods and even less frequent reporting of corresponding damages. <br/> <br/>In this research, validation is defined as the process of ensuring that...

Hydrological Response of the Geul Catchment to the Rainfall in July 2021

Flash floods are a major concern in hydrology and natural hazard science due to their high potential of causing fatalities and damages. They are caused by short, high-intensity rainfall and characterized by a flood event happening within six hours of the onset of precipitation.<br/>In July 2021 an extremely large rainfall event took place in the...