Flood Risk Assessment in Urban Areas of Southern Taiwan

Wen-Cheng Liu, Tien-Hsiang Hsieh and Hong-Ming Liu
Additional contact information
Wen-Cheng Liu: Department of Civil and Disaster Prevention Engineering, National United University, Miao-Li 36063, Taiwan
Tien-Hsiang Hsieh: Department of Civil and Disaster Prevention Engineering, National United University, Miao-Li 36063, Taiwan
Hong-Ming Liu: Department of Civil and Disaster Prevention Engineering, National United University, Miao-Li 36063, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: A flood risk assessment of urban areas in Kaohsiung city along the Dianbao River was performed based on flood hazards and social vulnerability. In terms of hazard analysis, a rainfall-runoff model (HEC-HMS) was adopted to simulate discharges in the watershed, and the simulated discharges were utilized as inputs for the inundation model (FLO-2D). Comparisons between the observed and simulated discharges at the Wulilin Bridge flow station during Typhoon Kongrey (2013) and Typhoon Megi (2016) were used for the HEC-HMS model calibration and validation, respectively. The observed water levels at the Changrun Bridge station during Typhoon Kongrey and Typhoon Megi were utilized for the FLO-2D model calibration and validation, respectively. The results indicated that the simulated discharges and water levels reasonably reproduced the observations. The validated model was then applied to predict the inundation depths and extents under 50-, 100-, and 200-year rainfall return periods to form hazard maps. For social vulnerability, the fuzzy Delphi method and the analytic hierarchy process were employed to select the main factors affecting social vulnerability and to yield the weight of each social vulnerability factor. Subsequently, a social vulnerability map was built. A risk map was developed that compiled both flood hazards and social vulnerability levels. Based on the risk map, flood mitigation strategies with structural and nonstructural measures were proposed for consideration by decision-makers.

Keywords: flood risk; hazard; social vulnerability; hydrological and hydrodynamic model; analytic hierarchy process; fuzzy Delphi (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3180/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3180/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3180-:d:516683

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().