Evaluating pluvial flood hazard for highly urbanised cities: a case study of the Pearl River Delta Region in China
- PDF / 8,821,149 Bytes
- 29 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 26 Downloads / 201 Views
Evaluating pluvial flood hazard for highly urbanised cities: a case study of the Pearl River Delta Region in China Wei Jian1 · Shanshan Li2 · Chengguang Lai2 · Zhaoli Wang2 · Xiangju Cheng2 · Edmond Yat‑Man Lo1,3,4 · Tso‑Chien Pan1,3,4 Received: 16 September 2019 / Accepted: 6 October 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Rapid urbanisation and economic growth in developing Asian countries have exacerbated their exposure to flood hazards, particularly evident in low-lying urban cities that are currently facing increasing risks from extreme precipitations, likely made worse by the impending climate change. We present a set of simplified indices representative of the characteristics of rainfall-run-off process for evaluating pluvial flood hazard using the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The highly urbanised Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in southern China is studied as an example of mapping the regional pluvial flood hazard and assessing the socio-economic exposure at risk. The developed hazard map captures the broad patterns of high flood hazard zones when compared with reported surface water flooding hotspots and the PRD riverine flood map from the 2015 Global Assessment Report. Further analysis on the regional socio-economic profiles suggests that most PRD cities are faced with large flood loss potential, with estimates of approximate 23 million people and 2.4 trillion RMB gross domestic product exposed to high flood hazard. Mega cities Guangzhou and Shenzhen top the ranking with over 20–40% of their dense urban settlements in the high flood hazard zone. This highlights the impact of human activities on the natural surface run-off process, and the need for robust flood hazard assessment for better understanding and design of holistic solutions towards more adequate flood mitigation systems for continuous urbanisation and future climate conditions. Keywords Flood · Hazard assessment · Urbanisation · Pearl River Delta (PRD) · Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation
* Edmond Yat‑Man Lo [email protected] 1
Institute of Catastrophe Risk Management, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
2
School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
3
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
4
Green Buildings and Smart Cities Program, Sino-Singapore International Joint Research Institute (SSIJRI), Guangzhou 510000, China
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
Natural Hazards
1 Introduction Surface water flooding is frequently experienced by large cities worldwide in recent years. It typically occurs after a period of intense downpours exceeding the capacity of the drainage system, leading to disruption of services and economic activities, damage to properties, and even loss of lives. Rapid urbanisation over the past decades has also greatly altered the land use and land cover in urban cities, which together with the immense concentrations of population and wealth, have greatly exacerbated the susce
Data Loading...
