WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING

Flood Damage Mitigation

Flood Damage Mitigation is to reduce

flood damage to a minimum consistent
with the cost involved. This is on the
understanding that absolute control over
floods is rarely feasible either physically
or economically.
2
Flood Damage Mitigation
Introduction
The commonly accepted measures for reducing
flood damage are as follows:
1. Reduction of peak flow by reservoir
2. Confinement of the flow within a predetermined
channel by levees, flood walls or close conduit
3. Reduction of peak stage by increased velocities
resulting from channel improvement
4. Diversion of flood waters through a flood by pass
(floodways), which may returned the water to the same
channel at a point downstream or deliver it to another
channel or different watershed.
5. Flood proofing of specific properties
6. Reduction of flood runoff by:
a) Land management
b) Sustainable Urban Storm Management – (MSMA)
7. Temporary evacuation of flood threatened areas on the
basis of flood warnings
8. Flood plain management
 FLOOD DISASTER/DAMAGE
MITIGATION

Flood Mitigation and Relief (7) Flood Defence and Management

Flood Defense
Flood Forecasting Flood Non Structural
Engineering and
and Routing Emergency and Measure Management
Relief (Structural)

Flood Land
Proofing Management Discharge Water Level Levee, Flood wall
(5) and Urban Control Control or close conduit (2)
Storm Mgt (6)

Storage Diversion River Channel Floodplain

Measures (1) Measures (4) measures (3) Measures (8)
Flood Damage Mitigation
Reduction of peak flow by reservoirs

Two basic types of flood-mitigation reservoirs:

1. Storage Reservoir
The discharge from a storage reservoir is
regulated by gates and valves operated on the
basis of the judgment of the project engineer;
2. Retarding Basins
Retarding basins are provided with fixed,
ungated outlets that automatically regulated
the outflow in accordance with the volume of
water in storage.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Storage Reservoirs

Flood Mitigation Single Purpose Reservoir:

 The function of a flood-mitigation
reservoir is to store a portion of the
flood flow as to minimize the flood
peak at the point to be protected.
 Controlled outflow = save channel
capacity. All flow above this rate is
stored until inflow drops below the
channel capacity, and the store water is
released to recover storage capacity for
the next flood.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Storage Reservoirs

Location of Reservoir:
 The most effective flood mitigation is
obtained from an adequate reservoir
located immediately upstream from the
point (or reach) to be protected
 Table 20.1 presents data on several flood-
mitigation systems constructed or
proposed in the United States.
 In general, at least one-third of the total
drainage area should be under reservoir
control for effective flood reduction.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Storage Reservoirs
Flood Damage Mitigation
Storage Reservoir

Size of Reservoir:
 The maximum capacity required is the
difference in volume between the safe release
from the reservoir and the design flood
inflow.
 As the reservoir size is increased, the law of
diminishing returns may come into play.
 Due to the hydrograph is wider at low flows,
more water must be stored to reduce the peak
a given amount as the total peak reduction is
increased
Flood Damage Mitigation
Storage Reservoir
Operation Problem:
 Streamflow forecasts are necessary in planning
reservoir operations for flood mitigation
 A flood mitigation reservoir has its maximum
potential for flood reduction when it is empty.
• It is often necessary to reserve a portion of the storage
capacity as a protection against a second flood.
• The need to reserve storage against a possible second
flood, mean that a flood mitigation reservoir cannot
be fully effective.
 A third operational problem develops when
flows in excess of natural flows are released
from a reservoir and synchronize at some point
downstream with flood flow from tributary.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Retarding Basins
General Characteristic of Retarding Basins:
 The outlet of a retarding basin usually consist of
large spillway or one or more un-gated sluiceway
{Q = CdA (2gh)0.5}
 Usually, retarding basin is selected at streams,
which are rise so rapidly that it would be difficult
to operate storage reservoirs effectively
 As a flood occurs, the retarding basin fills and the
discharge increases until the flood has passed and
the inflow has become equal to the outflow. After
this time, water is automatically withdrawn from
the basin until the stored water is completely
discharged (See Fig. 20.5)
Flood Damage Mitigation
Retarding Basins
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Structural Design of Levees and Flood Walls:
 A levee is an earth dike, while a flood wall is usually of
masonry construction;
 In general, levees and flood walls must satisfy the same
criteria as regular dams;
 Levees are usually built of material excavated from
borrow pits paralleling the levee line;
 Most levees are homogeneous material, where the
material (the least previous material along the
riverside) should be placed in layers and compacted;
 Levee cross sections must be adjusted to fit the site and
available materials. Details of a typical levee are
shown in Fig. 20.6;
 Real estate costs for levees may be reasonable in rural
areas, but in cities it is often difficult to obtain enough
line for earth dikes. In this case concrete flood walls
(Fig. 20.7) may be preferable solution.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Location of Levees:
 The channel width between levees and the height of the
levees are closely related. Hence, it is necessary to
determine by trial the channel-width and levee-height
combination that offers the greatest net benefits;
 It is often cheaper to place the levees along the high
ground, which is built as a result of deposition of
sediment when the stream overflows;
 A city or agricultural district may be protected by a ring
levee, which completely encircles the area (Fig. 20.8a);
 The alternative to a ring levee is to carry the levee line
back until it can be terminated in high ground (Fig.
20.8b);
 In a meandering river, the levee lines skirt the outside
of the bends so that the levied channel is less tortuous
than the natural low-water channel (Fig. 20.8c). At
points where bank erosion can be expected, the levee
should be protected;
 Minor tributaries are not levied but are treated as
problems in interior drainage (next section)
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Interior Drainage:
A levee line must inevitably cross
tributary channels and the designer has
two alternatives:
1. To carry the levees upstream along the
tributaries to tie in to high ground or
2. To block the channel and create an interior
drainage problems.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Four general solutions to the problem of interior drainage:

1. The water may be collected at some low point and

pumped over the levee during floods when gravity flow
through outlet gates is impossible (Fig. 20.9a);

2. The water may also be collected in an open channel on

land beside the levee and diverted downstream to
some point where gravity discharge is always possible
(Fig. 20.9b,c,d);

3. Tributary streams are sometimes enclosed in a

pressure conduit whose upstream end is at an
elevation that permits gravity flow into the main
stream at all times (Fig.20.9e); and

4. A final possibility is to collect the water in a storage

basin until gravity discharge to a stream is possible.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Levee Maintenance and Flood Fighting:
 There are many possible causes of levee
failure, and no levee can be assumed to be
safe during a flood;
 Levee should undergo regular annual
inspection with the aim of looking for
evidence of:
 bank caving,
 weak spots created by animals or vegetation,
 foundation settlement,
 bank sloughing,
 erosion around the outlets of sewers or other pipes
passing through the levee, and
 other possible sources of danger.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Levee Maintenance and Flood Fighting:
 Flood fighting is the term applied to
the effort necessary during a flood to
maintain the effectiveness of a levee;
 A levee can be raised 1 to 2 ft (0.3 to 0.6
m) by sack filled with soil (Fig. 20.11).
 If further raising is necessary, a timber
wall supported by earth or sandbags or
a mud box filled with earth is usually
necessary. Plastic sheeting weighted
with sandbags is an effective temporary
protection against erosion and seepage
on emergency filled
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Flood Damage Mitigation
Levees and Flood Walls
Effect of Levees on River Stages
 Levees restrict the channel width by
preventing flow on the flood plain, and
this results in the increased stage in
levees reach.
 Channel improvements, which usually
accompany levee construction, reduce
frictional flow resistance, which may
reduced or eliminating this increased
in stage.
 levee system.gif

Flood in New Orleans due to Katrina

Flood Damage Mitigation
Close Conduits

Close Conduits
 In urban areas it is not uncommon to replace
an open channel with a closed conduit,
usually a reinforced-concrete-box structure.
 It is very important that the closed conduit
have adequate hydraulic capacity so that it
will not blocking the flow and causing
backwater problem upstream.
 Example: Smart Tunnel Kuala Lumpur
Flood Damage Mitigation
Channel improvement

Channel improvement
 Improving the hydraulic capacity of the
channel, so that it reduces the stage at a
specific location on a stream.
 Means for improvement would include
removal of brush and snags, dredging of bars,
straightening of bends. The negative impact
is bank erosion.
 In some areas lining a channels has a further
disadvantage that it may eliminate natural
recharge to the groundwater, thus providing
flood mitigation at the cost of reducing water
supply.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Flood bypasses or Floodways

 Diversion of flood waters through a flood by

pass (floodways), which may returned the
water to the same channel at a point
downstream or deliver it to another channel
or different watershed.
 If allowed by the topography condition, excess
water can be directed to flow across the land.
 Opportunities for the construction of bypasses
are limited by the topography of the valley and
the availability of low-value land.
 The Yolo Bypass in California that serves to
protect the city of Sacramento from flooding.
 Another Barrage will be built to protect
Kuching City (See the following Satellite
images)
Sg. Sarawak System and Kuching City
Bako Area and Mangroves Forest Reserved
 PHASE 1

PHASE 2 KANAN
DETENTION
STORAGE

PHASE 2 KIRI
DETENTION
STORAGE

Catchment
Boundary
Flood Damage Mitigation
Flood bypasses or Floodways

Examples.
Water flows at the rate of 300 m3 in a
river (n = 0.045) whose flow cross-
section can be approximated as a
rectangle 65 m wide and 4 m deep. If a
bypass could be made available to
divert 60 m3 of the 300 m3, what would
be the maximum drop in stage
downstream of the bypass diversion?
Assume a constant river width, bed
slope, and Manning’s n.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Flood proofing

 Flood proofing is effective to reduce

the damage of isolated units of high
value that are threatened by flooding
 An industrial plant comprising
buildings, storage yards, roads, etc.,
may be protected by a ring levee or
flood walls
 Some buildings are constructed such
that all important contents are placed
on the second or higher floor. The first
floor is reserved for vehicles that can
be removed in case of flood.
Flood Damage Mitigation
(A) Land Management
 Vegetation and Flood.
• The vegetal cover creates a sort of retarding basin
that stores a portion of the runoff that might
otherwise contributes to flood.
• The storage may an important quantity in minor
storms. It maybe quite negligible in major flood,
particularly if the flood-producing storm is precede
by other rains that fill the storage space.
 Water and Soil Conservation
• Contour plowing and terracing are used to retard
surface runoff and promote infiltration of water
into soil.
• This method are useful in reducing flood flows in
small stream.
GRASS FILTER STRIP AND BIOSWALES
in
(B) Urban Storm
Management
Flood Damage Mitigation
Temporary Evacuation

 The high cost of flood mitigation

infrastructure and the prevention from loss of
life are making the evacuation become one of
the most effective means of flood damage
reduction.
 A good flood-forecasting service is relatively
inexpensive and can often provide adequate
warning sufficiently far in advance to permit
orderly and complete evacuation
 The smaller the drainage area of the stream,
the more difficult it is to provide warnings in
time.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Flood plain management
 Avoiding risk by staying out of the flood plain is the
only flood control measure whose results are almost
certain.
 However, encroachment on lands subject to flooding
has taken place more rapidly than flood control works
have been constructed, with the result that flood
damages have been steadily increasing.
 Flood plain management should aim toward
minimizing the cost of flood-plain occupancy.
• The management should pursue flood-plain regulations
that encourage use of the flood plain, which will not
result in significant damage to property.
• For areas not yet developed, leaving the flood plain in its
natural state, using it for a park, or agricultural purposes
may be advantageous.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Economics of Flood Mitigation
 Combined Project
• The term combined project includes those
projects in which several flood-mitigation
methods are utilized jointly
• It is rare to find a stream in which flood
mitigation is concentrated in a single form
of protective measures
• Reservoirs are often combined with levees
and channel works at some points in a
stream. (see figure 20.14)
 Flood Damage Mitigation
Economics of Flood Mitigation
Estimating the Benefits of Flood Mitigation
 Tangible benefits:
• Those arising from prevention of flood damage; and
• Land enhancement from more intensive use of
protected land.
The primary benefit is the difference in expected
damage through out the life of the project with and
without flood mitigation. The primary benefits may
include the following:
• Cost of replacing or repairing damaged property
• Cost of evacuation, relief, and rehabilitation of
victims, and emergency flood-protection measures
• Losses as a result of disrupted of business
• Loss of crops or cost of replanting crops
See table 20.2 for cost and benefit analysis for a flood
mitigation project
 Flood Damage Mitigation
Economics of Flood Mitigation

Secondary benefits may arise in activities that stem

from use or processing of products and services
directly affected by flood. For example, if steel mill is
closed by a flood, and steel reserved are short, factories
far from the flood area might have to close until steel
production is again underway.
Secondary benefits are not normally included in the
estimates of flood mitigation benefits.

 Intangible benefits include prevention of loss of life

and reduction in diseases resulting from flood
conditions. It is difficult to place a monetary value on
these intangibles.
 Flood Damage Mitigation
Economics of Flood Mitigation

Problem’s example:
Construction of a levee is under consideration for a reach of
river particularly vulnerable to flood damages. Annual costs
(including investment costs and maintenance expense) of
levees of different levels of protection are summarized in the
following table. Flood damages are relatively insensitive to
depth and duration of flooding and are estimated as $
1,500,000 per event exceeding the channel capacity. The
existing unimproved channel costs $ 15,000/yr to maintain and
has a capacity equal to the 5-yr flood. Considering economic
factors alone, should a levee be constructed along this reach of
river? If so, what level of protection do you recommend?
 Flood Damage Mitigation
Economics of Flood Mitigation

Problem’s example (continue)

Return Period (yr) Annual Levee Cost ($)

20 $ 125,000
40 $ 180,000
100 $ 250,000
200 $ 280,000
 Flood Damage Mitigation
Economics of Flood Mitigation
Solution for example of flood mitigation project

For existing unimproved channel, maintenance cost $ 15,000/yr, and expected annual damage
is 0.20 * $ 1,500,000 = $ 300,000

With improvement for 20 years flood, additional cost $ 125,000 - $ 15,000 = $ 110,000 per
year, and expected annual damage is 0.05 * $ 1,500,000 = $ 75,000. So, expected benefit is
$300,000 - $ 75,000 = $ 225,000.
Benefit cost ratio is $225,000/$110,000 = 2.05 > 1.0 => good investment

With improvement for 40 years flood, additional cost $180,000.- $125,000 = $55,000 per
year, and expected annual damage is 0.025 * $1,500,000 = $37,500. So, expected additional
benefit is $ 75,000 - $ 37,500 = $ 37,500.
Additional Benefit Cost Ratio is $37,500/$55,000 = 0.68 => no good investment.

With improvement for 100 years flood, additional cost $250,000 - $125,000 = $125,000 per
year, and expected annual damage is 0.01 * $ 1,500,000 = $ 15,000. So, expected additional
benefit is $75,000 - $ 15,000 = $ 60,000.
Additional Benefit Cost Ratio is $60,000/$ 125,000 = 0.48 < 1 => no good.

With improvement for 200 years flood, additional cost $280,000 - $125,000 = $155,000 per
year, and expected annual damage is 0.005 * $ 1,500,000 = $7,500. So, expected additional
benefit is $75,000 - $ 7,500 = $67,500.
Additional Benefit Cost Ratio is $67,500/$155,000 = 0.44 < 1 => no good.

So, a levee should be constructed for 20 years flood protection.

Flood Damage Mitigation
Environmental Impact of Flood Mitigation Facilities

 Reservoirs drown out fertile valley and forested

hillside. At the same time they may provide:
• A lake suitable for boating, swimming, and other
water sports.
• Fishing maybe enhanced by stocking the reservoir.
• Greater control over flows may permit larger
minimum flows to provide adequate dilution for waste
water discharged into the stream downstream of the
dam.
 Channel improvement may disturb the ecology
of the areas by removal of nesting areas for
birds and gravel beds for fish. Levees along
rivers and the seacoast may disturb and even
remove wetlands.
Flood Damage Mitigation
Summary
The steps in the design of a flood mitigation project are as
follows:
1. Determined the project design flood and the flood
characteristics of the area
2. Define the areas to be protected and, on the basis of a field
survey, determine the flood damages which can be expected at
various stages.
3. Determined the possible methods of flood protection. If
reservoirs and floodways are considered feasible, select possible
sites and determine the physical characteristics of this sites.
4. Design the necessary facilities for each method of mitigation in
sufficient detail to permit cost estimates and an analysis of their
effect on flood frequency or stage-damage relations.
5. Select the facility or combination of facilities that offer the
maximum net benefits
6. Evaluate the social and environmental impact of the project and
considered alternatives that maximize the positive impacts and
minimize the negative impacts in this areas
7. Prepare a detailed report setting forth the possibilities
explored, the protection recommended, and the degree of
protection that will be provided.