Flood risk assessment

Dikes, levees and embankments are designed and constructed to withstand extreme storms or hurricanes (coasts) or extreme river discharges. But how strong are they really? When do they fail? What are effects of future sea level rise and more extreme events on safety? A keynote paper on present and future strategies of coastal flooding was given at the FloodRisk Conference, Oxford. Van der Meer was involved in the following projects. Mobile flood defence at Antwerp, Belgium Consultant for City of Antwerp Mobile barrier along the river Scheldt at the centre of Antwerp, in combination with: new infrastructure development along 7 km of historical quays. VNK 1 (Assessment of flood safety in the Netherlands) Breach modelling of dikes by wave attack or wave overtopping Quality control of VNK-calculations as member of the ENW quality group Hurricane protection refinery, US Gulf coast Van der Meer designed in 2000 a hurricane protection around a refinery at the US Gulf coasts. As one of the only levee systems this protection withstood hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and kept the refinery running! Abstract and presentation on damages during Katrina are available. Van der Meer was involved in the levee damage assessment and a further study on the optimum protection level for hurricane surges. Flood risk assessment Haute Gironde, France The Haute Gironde was flooded in 2000 by a short but extreme storm on the Atlantic ocean. A flood risk assessment, including assessment of flood prone areas and damage and a cost benefit analysis, showed that future sea level rise will have a serious impact on flooding risk. Mitigation measures have been proposed. A paper on results is available for download.