Effects of river system behaviour on flood risk

New safety standards for coastal flood defences in the Netherlands

The Dutch government is in the process of revising its flood safety policy. The current safety standards for flood defences in the Netherlands are largely based on the outcomes of cost-benefit analyses. Loss of life has not been considered separately in the choice for current standards. This article presents the results of a research project...

Economic implications of multi-layer safety projects for flood protection

Recent experience of large-scale water disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011 has reminded mankind that disasters cannot be ruledout. Unprecedented low-probability events can happen even in the most well monitored areas, causing major social-economic disruption. Failing to prepare...

Economic optimization of flood prevention systems in the Netherlands

After the flood disaster of 1953, the Netherlands adopted a rational approach to flood risk management with the use of protection standards determined by means of cost-benefit analysis. Due to scientific and political developments that have recently taken place, an update of the Dutch protection standards is being undertaken. One of the major...

Defend or raise? Optimising flood risk reduction strategies

Flood risk reduction can be provided by interventions such as raising land or constructing flood defences. This paper introduces an approach to optimise the selection of risk reduction strategies. It expands existing economic optimization approaches for flood defences, by introducing (largely) analytical formulations to include the effects of...