Evaluating Compound Flooding Risks in Coastal Cities under Climate Change—The Maputo Case Study, in Mozambique

José Pedro Matos, Filipa Ferreira (), Diogo Mendes and José Saldanha Matos
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José Pedro Matos: CERIS—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Filipa Ferreira: CERIS—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Diogo Mendes: CERIS—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
José Saldanha Matos: CERIS—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-21

Abstract: Flooding is a truly ubiquitous problem. Today, it puts an estimated 1.81 billion people at risk. Floods particularly affect coastal cities, where it is expected that the damage associated with inundations exceed the staggering value of USD 50 billion by 2050. Indeed, the risk associated with flooding in coastal cities is increasing due to three unequivocal trends: growing population in large urban centres, sea level rise, and increased intensity of extreme weather events. Planning and implementation of storm drainage systems in large cities is a complex, long, and expensive process. Typically, the effective lifespan of storm drainage systems may extend to nearly a century. Accordingly, such systems should be designed for the future, not the present. Addressing these important challenges, the paper evaluates flood risks in the coastal city of Maputo, in Mozambique. Results show that, although downtown Maputo is not particularly exposed to compound flooding, accounting for rainfall-tide events is essential to understand flooding in the area and evaluating the performance of the storm drainage system.

Keywords: climate change; combined flooding; drainage systems; flood risk; resiliency; stormwater; sea level rise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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