Flood management
Flood management is the planning and implementation of measures to reduce flood risk, limit damage, and protect people, property, and ecosystems.
Flood risk assessment: The analysis of flood likelihood, exposure, vulnerability, and potential consequences. It identifies which hazards and communities flood-management plans must address.
Levee: An embankment built to prevent or reduce water from inundating protected land. Levees defend settled areas but leave residual risk if overtopped or breached.
Flood resilience: The capacity of people, infrastructure, and systems to withstand, adapt to, and recover from flooding. Resilience emphasizes coping and recovery, not only preventing water from entering.
Residual risk: The risk that remains after protective measures have been implemented. Defenses reduce but never remove the possibility of damaging floods.
Climate change and water: The ways climate change alters water availability, circulation, and extremes. Changing rainfall and sea levels can make past flood estimates unreliable.
Flood forecasting: The prediction of flood timing, location, extent, or magnitude using observations and models. Forecasts provide time to issue warnings and prepare protective actions.
Flood barrier: A fixed or deployable structure designed to block or redirect floodwater. Barriers provide targeted protection where flood pathways threaten critical places.
Room for the River: A Dutch flood-management program that gives rivers more space through measures such as widening floodplains. It manages high flows by accommodating water rather than relying only on higher levees.
Levee effect: The increase in development and perceived safety behind flood defenses, which can amplify losses when defenses fail. Protection may encourage exposure that makes rare failures more damaging.
Probable maximum flood: An estimate of the largest flood considered physically possible at a location under specified conditions. Its assumptions expose limits in designing defenses for extreme events.