Engineering

HYDROLOGY

Flood Hydrology - Introduction

Okedi John
WHAT IS A FLOOD?
Temporary inundation of normally dry area causing discomfort/death to people
and damage to property (EU, 2007).

Floods occur when e.g. a river gets more water than its channel can hold.

Floods caused by heavy rain, land use change, climate change?

High water table, impervious surface increase flood risk

TYPES OF FLOODS/CAUSES
➢ Riverine flooding

➢ Urban drainage

➢ Ground failures

➢ Fluctuating lake levels

➢ Coastal/tidal flooding
TERMINOLOGY
 HYDROLOGICAL RESPONSE
1000 0
900 10
Discharge (m3/s)

800 20

Rainfall (mm)
700 30
600 40 MIKESHE
500 50 observed
400 60 Areal Rainfall
300 70
200 80
100 90
0 100

1000 0
900 10
Discharge (m3/s)

800 20

Rainfall (mm)
700 30 MIKESHE
600 40
observed
500 50
400 60 Areal Rainfall
300 70
200 80
100 90
0 100
HISTORICAL FLOOD
▪ Historical archives; e.g. journals, letters, newspapers, photographs may extend the record
several decades

▪ Native oral traditions (several centuries?)

▪ Ecological evidence (e.g. scarred trees: centuries?)

▪ Geological evidence (e.g. flood deposits: centuries - millennia)