Over 90 hydrologists, engineers, river managers and researchers attended the workshop and expert meeting
hosted by the University of Padua. After presenting the message from Mme Cresson, Dr C Patermann,
Director of the Environment & Climate research programme of the EC, drew attention to the importance
which the EC places on the reduction of risk. He reported that over 30 Million ECU has been committed to
research on hydrological and geological risks under the Fourth Framework Programme including three new
shared-cost action research projects from the second call of FPIV (EUROTAS, RAPHAEL and FRAMEWORK).
In addition to the topics originally planned for the event, the participants also heard expert reports of the recent
exceptional floods on the River Oder in the Czech Republic and Poland. Dr Patermann confirmed the
Commission's intention to sponsor an additional meeting under the framework of RIBAMOD to consider more
fully the lessons to learn from this disaster. The conclusions of the meeting at Monselice can be drawn together
under four main headings as follows.
The need for holistic flood management
The mitigation of flood damage and loss does not only depend upon the actions during floods but is a
combination of pre-flood preparedness, operational flood management and post-flood reconstruction and
review. Pre-flood activities include:
- flood risk management for all causes of flooding and disaster contingency planning
- construction of physical flood defence infrastructure and implementation of forecasting and warning
systems
- land-use planning and management within the whole catchment
- discouragement of inappropriate development within the flood plains
- public communication and education of flood risk and actions to take in a flood emergency
Operational flood management can be considered as a sequence of four activities:
- detection of the likelihood of a flood forming (hydro-meteorology)
- forecasting of future river flow conditions from the hydro-meteorological observations
- warning issued to the appropriate authorities and the public on the extent, severity and timing of the flood
- response by the public and the authorities
Depending upon the severity of the event, the post-flood activities may include:
- relief for the immediate needs of those affected by the disaster
- reconstruction of damaged buildings, infrastructure and flood defences
- recovery and regeneration of the environment and the economic activities in the flooded area
- review of the flood management activities to improve the process and planning for future events in the
area affected and more generally, elsewhere
Data and Modelling for Real-time Flood Forecasting
There are several research issues in achieving improvements to real-time forecasting. They include:
- design of the hydro-meteorological data network with sufficient redundancy to achieve the required
accuracy and the security of information for forecasting in the most severe conditions
- improved "now-casting" procedures based upon more realistic process descriptions of atmospheric
physics
- integration of data of different type, accuracy and source to determine the state of the atmosphere, of the
river catchment and of the flood defence system
- transfer of data and information at various scales in forming the link between different models
- a better understanding and quantification of the uncertainty in the forecasting process
- the development of probabilistic forecasts rather than specific values (eg maximum water level or flow rate)
Operational flood management
The extent of the flood defence activities during a flood will depend upon the severity of the event. They may
include:
- real-time forecasting and issuing warnings,
- monitoring and strengthening defences,
- operation of flood storage systems,
- evacuation of flood plain occupants and closure of transport links, and
- emergency assistance and rescue.
The optimal operation of flood storage reservoirs may require the release of a substantial volume of water
in advance of the arrival of the flood, to create sufficient storage capacity to attenuate the flood peak.
Human factors
During the meeting, some "human" factors emerged in the discussions. These are in four areas:
- how best to communicate flood risk information (emergency and pre-flood)
to authorities and the general public,
- the need for better communication between hydrologists and meteorologists
when developing and operating real time forecasting systems,
- the need for two-way communication between the scientific community and
the operating authorities, and
- the need for continued dialogue between researchers in different aspects
of flood risk mitigation.
Future RIBAMOD events
The RIBAMOD events are open for participation upon request to the convenors; full details will be available in
separate announcements. You may also contact the convenors by fax or e-mail at the addresses below.
Workshop 2, Wallingford, UK, 26 to 27 February 1998
will cover impacts of climate change on flooding and sustainable river management.
The topics considered will include:
- Impacts of climate change on flood generation and flood regime
- Impacts of river restoration on flood mitigation
- Catchment management planning, impact on flooding of changes in land use in river basins, policy
development and option assessment
- A review of the other RIBAMOD events and activities
- A review of relevant projects funded under the Fourth Framework programme
- Latest news of the Fifth Framework programme
- Identification of future EU RTD needs
Convenors: HR Wallingford (UK) and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. (Germany)
Special seminar on Recent Flooding in Central Europe, Potsdam, April 1998 (to be confirmed)
Convenor: Axel Bronstert, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. (Germany)
For information on RIBAMOD contact one of the Partners:
Paul Samuels, HR Wallingford, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OXON, OX10 8BA, UK
fax +44 1491 826352
e-mail pgs@hrwallingford.co.uk
Karsten Havnø, Danish Hydraulic Institute
fax +45 45 76 2567
e-mail kah@dhi.dk
Karel Heynert, Delft Hydraulics
fax +31 15 285 8582
e-mail Karel.Heynert@wldelft.nl
Evangelos Baltas, National Technical University of Athens
fax +30 1 772 2879
e-mail baltas@central.ntua.gr
Axel Bronstert, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
fax +49 331 288 2600
e-mail Axel.Bronstert@pik-potsdam.de
Marco Borga, University of Padua
fax +39 49 827 2686
e-mail mborga@ux1.unipd.it
Riccardo Casale
fax +32 2 296 3024
e-mail Riccardo.CASALE@DG12.cec.be
RIBAMOD Home page
© October 1997