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Floods

Chapter · December 2016

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_126-1

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344
▶ Dissolution
▶ Erosion
▶ Factor of safety
▶ Fluid Withdrawal
▶ Geotextiles
▶ Groundwater
▶ Hydraulic Action
▶ Infiltration
▶ Liners
▶ Percolation
▶ Voids
References
Crosta G, di Prisco C (1999) On slope instability induced by seepage
erosion. Can J Geotech 36:1056–1073
Dunne T (1990) Hydrology, mechanics, and geomorphic implications of
erosion by subsurface flow. In: Higgins CG, Coates DR (eds)
Groundwater geomorphology. Geological society of America,
Special paper 252, Boulder, pp 1–28
Hagerty DJ (1991) Piping/sapping erosion. I: basic considerations.
J Hydraul Eng 17:991–1008
Higgins CG (1984) Piping and sapping, development of landforms by
groundwater outflow. In: LaFleur RG (ed) Groundwater as a geo-
morphic agent. Allen and Unwin, Boston, pp 18–58
Hutchinson JN (1982) Damage to slopes produced by seepage erosion in
sands. In: Sheko A (ed) Landslides and mudflows, reports of Alma
Ata international seminar, October 1981, Centre of International
Projects, GKNT, Moscow, pp 250–265
Jones JAA (1990) Piping effects in humid lands. In: Higgins CG,
Coates DR (eds) Groundwater geomorphology, Geological society
of America, Special paper 252, pp 111–138
Koenders MA, Selimeyer JB (1992) Mathematical model for piping.
J Geotech Eng 118:943–946
Koerner RM (ed) (2013) Geosynthetics in filtration, drainage and erosion
control. Elsevier Science and Technology, London, 323 pp
Skempton AW, Brogan JM (1994) Experiments on piping in sandy
gravels. Géotechnique 44:449–460
Terzaghi K, Peck RB (1967) Soil mechanics in engineering practice.
Wiley, New York
Worman A (1993) Seepage-induced mass wasting in coarse soil slopes.
J Hydraul Eng 119:1155–1168
Floods
Fabio Luino
CNR IRPI (National Research Council, Institute for
Geo-Hydrological Protection and Prevention), Turin, Italy
Definition
Flooding is a natural process that occurs when the level of a
body of water rises until it overflows its natural banks or artificial
levees and submerges areas that were usually dry. Along a
Floods
watercourse, a flood can manifest itself annually. Usually high
water flow is contained between the natural banks or artificial
levees, but when the volume of the flood waters can no longer be
contained within those natural or artificial confines, waters
expand into the surrounding areas. The flood extent follows a
dynamic propagation that depends essentially on the amount of
water that overflows, the speed of the water flow, and the
morphology of the surrounding areas (Fig. 1).
Introduction
Precipitation events have a fundamental role in the formation
of a great number of exogenous natural processes. Their inter-
action can promote the formation of landslides, mud-debris
flows, avalanches, and floods. Undoubtedly, floods impact the
largest number of people, as a consequence of involving large
areas that are often densely populated.
Water has always played a vital role in the life of people.
From the beginning of civilization, people have tended to live
near the water, along creeks, streams, and rivers or along lakes
and sea coasts. Land close to water has usually offered many
advantages to settlers, initially for basic survival and then facil-
itating societies, development, and industrialization. The water’s
presence was important not only for having a fertile soil to grow
food but also for transportation. But now flooding produces
damaging events which affect approximately 21 million people
worldwide on an annual basis (World Resources Institute 2016).
Cause of Flooding
The Role of Rainfall
Flood events are usually preceded by heavy rain: they can
have different developing time and intensity. Rainfall of short
duration and high intensity can cause easier flooding in small
mountainous streams/creeks whereas rainfall of prolonged
time and low intensity can provoke large floods mainly in
larger basins on the plains. In fact, a precipitation widely
distributed over an ample basin can create problems along
the entire hydrographic network. All streams become swollen
and when flowing into the main river they contribute to the
formation of an extraordinary flood.
Other Causes
Flood events are not limited only to rainfall from storm
events. They can happen due to:
1. Rapid melting of snow and/or ice masses by an abrupt rise
in temperature. The eruptions of the volcano Eyjafjal-
lajökull (Iceland) on March 2010 caused melting of its
glacier. A flow meter device in the Krossá glacial river
recorded a sudden rise in water level and in water
Floods 345

Floods, Fig. 1 Large area flooded through a break produced by collapsing of the levee embankment: Kinugawa River in Joso, Ibaraki Prefecture on
10 September 2015 (From: http://mashable.com/2015/09/10/japan-flooding-photos/#fKrjhULU08qi – The Yomiuri Shimbun/Associated Press)

Floods, Fig. 2 (a, b) Ceva, small town in Piedmont (Northwestern on its way: not only trees and shrubs from the banks but also cars,
Italy). Bridge before and after the peak of the Tanaro flood occurred on dustbins, and tons of rubbish (Photos of the author)
November 1994. During the process the river swept everything that was

temperature. About 1000 people from the zones of
Fljótshlíð, Eyjafjöll, and Landeyjar were quickly evacu-
ated (Smith 2013). However, heavy snowfall followed by
melting due to a sudden rise in temperature sometimes
causes extensive flooding in temperate areas.
2. Sudden emptying of a glacial cavity, like the case of the
outburst flood from Glacier de Tête Rousse that occurred
in 1892. The rupture of an subglacial cavity in Glacier de
Tête Rousse released 200,000 m3 of water and ice: the
village of Saint-Gervais-Le Fayet (French Alps) suffered
175 fatalities (Vincent et al. 2010).
3. Accidental blockage or the flow along the bed of a water-
course or at its mouth. The obstruction can happen for a
landslide fall (very common), for a bridge collapse, for
floating materials jammed against a transversal infra-
structure (Fig. 2), for sediment bed load, etc. The water
346
Floods, Fig. 3 Unbelievable
frame depicting the wave of the
tsunami that struck on
26 December 2004 in the village
of Ao Nang (Thailand) (Courtesy
of D. Rydevik, email: david.
rydevik@gmail.com, Stockholm
(Sweden))
usually overflows in the lateral areas and upstream of the
blockage. In 1961, for example, the riverbed of the Wei
River (the Yellow River’s largest tributary) was blocked
by 1.5 billion tons of sand, and its bed was lifted by 40 m.
A large area was inundated, and almost half a million
local people were forced to move.
4. Sudden release of water from natural or artificial reservoirs
due to natural (a, b) or anthropic causes (c).
(a) On October 1963, in Northeastern Italy, the Vajont
landslide (>230 million cubic meters) caused a
man-made tsunami in an artificial basin. Fifty million
cubic meters of water overtopped the dam with a 250-m
wave: several little towns were completely destroyed
with 1917 casualties (Semenza and Ghirotti 2000).
(b) Earthquake-induced movement of the subsoil such as
like the disaster of Baldwin Hills Dam (Los Angeles).
On December 1963, the collapse of the dam released
950,000 m3, resulting in five deaths and the destruc-
tion of 277 homes (Anderson 1964).
(c) In December 1959, the Malpasset Dam failed due to
mistakes in the planning stage. The huge water out-
burst caused 423 deaths with 83 injured, 155 buildings
destroyed, 796 damaged, and 1350 hectares wrecked.
The worst effects were felt in the valley downstream,
in particular in the town of Fréjus (French Riviera),
located eight kilometers from the dam (Habib 1987).
5. Water surges at the seashore as a result of (a) storms,
(b) earthquake, and (c) submarine landslide.
(a) Flooding of the North Sea hit the Netherlands, Bel-
gium, England, and Scotland on the night of
31 January–1 February 1953. The flooding was caused
by the combination of a high spring tide with a severe
cyclone over the North Sea. In some areas the sea level
Floods
rose by more than 5.50 m above the mean value,
overwhelming the sea defenses and causing extensive
flooding (more than 2300 victims) (Baxter 2005).
(b) In Southeastern Asia, in 26 December 2004, an earth-
quake occurred with an epicenter off the west coast of
Sumatra (Indonesia). The earthquake, with a magni-
tude of 9.1–9.3 on the Richter scale, triggered a series
of devastating tsunamis along the coasts with waves
up to 30 m (Fig. 3): 230–280,000 people in 14 coun-
tries died (Kelman et al. 2008).
(c) A mega-tsunami occurred on 9 July 1958 at Lituya Bay
(Alaska): it was caused by a gigantic landslide of ice,
debris and rock; about 30 million cubic meters of rock fell
into the sea generating the highest wave ever recorded,
with a height of more than 500 m. The wave swept 11 km
to the mouth of the bay at a speed between 150 and
210 km/h. The surge and wave of water destroyed the
forest on the shores over an area of 10 km2 (Miller 1960).
6. Military attack. Floods can also occur caused by humans.
In 1943 the British bombed three artificial dams in Ger-
many to weaken the Ruhr, the largest industrial region of
Nazi Germany. The disaster cost 1200 human lives and led
to the destruction of the downstream settlement. In 1944
the Germans tried to slow down the Allied troops by
flooding large areas using a tactic of war frequently uti-
lized by the military in the past (Rettemeier et al. 2001).
Flooding Frequency
Not all watercourses experience inundation with the same
frequency. This is influenced by the climate of the area and
by the condition of the basin (bank stability, riverbed
Floods
cleaning, presence of infrastructures, stability of the slopes).
To assess their frequency, hydrologists use the term “return
period,” which is the time in which an intensity value
assigned is equivalent to, or is exceeded on average at least
once. For convenient representation, the return time is often
used in place of the concept of probability of not exceeding
associated with a certain natural event. In other words, the
probability that a flood discharge can occur with an intensity
is greater than or equal to a pre-determined one. It is important
to emphasize that, when a severe flood is defined as a “100-
year flood,” it refers to an event of a magnitude corresponding
to an average annual probability of 1%. This statement does
not mean that there will be a flood of that magnitude every
100 years. While the flood-frequency approach does not
provide a deterministic assessment of the risk, it is useful for
the purposes of flood risk management or the likelihood of the
occurrence of any given damage in a given time interval.
Flood Measurements
People who have suffered the terrible experience of a flood
are usually astonished at what a river can cause. Geologists
and engineers rather tend to see the phenomenon as a cyclic
event of natural instability correlating the causes of initiation
and studying the most important effects and consequences.
Hydrologists compare the flood with those that occurred in
the past, whose measurements have been gathered and can
constitute an important database. Generally, the flood is clas-
sified depending on its “flow,” that is, the liquid volume that
passes through a unit of time a section of a waterway or
channel. It is measured in m3/sec or in ft3/sec. The presence
on a bridge or along a bank of a measuring instrument
(hydrometer/hydrometrograph) may allow measurement and
recording of the quantity of water discharged in real time. On
most occasions, such sophisticated devices along the river are
absent, or, if present, they were removed by the high flow. As
a result, scholars must rely on indirect methods that enable
one to estimate the extent of the flow in the aftermath. Where
high-water marks of the flood are still present, the width of a
peak flow water surface can be measured knowing certain
factors such as the slope of the riverbed, its geometry and
roughness. Similarly, in the sections of waterway where the
outflow scales are known, it is possible to infer the rate of the
flow from the hydrometric levels measured or estimated. All
indirect methods must be calibrated and updated over time.
Observations and Controls
Before the Flood
Since flood events are generated predominantly by precipita-
tion, initial data to be quickly obtained is the amount and the
347
duration of rainfall. Measurements can be made through
automatic devices permitting continuous recording or simply
using special containers of standardized capacity. In some
localized situations, such as streams fed by natural lakes, it
helps to know in advance the size of the hydrometric increases
within the reservoirs.
During the Flood
The best way to follow the evolution of a flood along a
watercourse is based on the constant control of the water
levels, in order to identify a threshold of height limit
(warning level) above which overflows and flooding may F
occur. These observations can be made using automatic trans-
ceiver equipment or in faster way, collecting during the event
periodic readings of the level reached by the flood,
corresponding to a grade rod or other reference points.
Especially in the rising phase of the flood, it is essential to
record data concerning the ascent rate of the water levels
(cm/hour) and the degree of turbidity of the water. The latter
can be evaluated by measuring the concentration of
suspended material in water samples collected at regular
time intervals with bottles of appropriate capacity containing
an amount not less than one liter.
Repeated visits to the more vulnerable streambanks permit
identification of the intensity of erosion of the banks by the
amount of land progressively removed. Along embanked
rivers it is necessary to check the levee embankments both
from the inside (the river) and from the outside (to the coun-
try) to recognize the early clues of embankment instability.
Along the floodplains of the secondary river system that
flows into the main stream, one must follow the trend of
outflows to detect the possible slowdown of water flow or
end of the flooding.
After the Flood
At the end phases of withdrawal and lowering of the level of
floodwaters, it is very useful to record all the consequences
resulting from the dynamics of the phenomenon. Within the
riverbed, it is particularly useful to verify:
• The major aggradation of alluvial deposits
• The points with greater concentration of erosive processes
with particular attention to those located in proximity to
structures with potential for exposing their foundation
Finally, with regard to the outside of the river-bed, the time
period of water remaining in any submerged area should be
recorded, data collected on the nature and thickness of the
deposited material, and markers placed or any stable structure
reference points noted to indicate the maximum level reached
by flood waters.
348
Floods, Fig. 4 Aerial view of Passau (about 200 km northeast of Munich, Germany), an important town flooded by the Danube River on 3 June
2013. Following heavy rain and thaw, the Inn and Donau rivers are expected to rise to over 11 m (REUTERS/photo Michaela Rehle)
Flood-Prone Areas
Floodplains are the areas most prone to flooding although
alluvial fans and all coastlines are also susceptible to a lesser
degree. The identification of areas that are potentially subject
to flooding has been one of the most frequent debates among
the scientific community in recent decades. The delimitation
of these critical areas has been requested by local citizens,
industries, and organizations as well as state and regional
bodies responsible for disaster prevention (Luino
et al. 2012). In the last 25 years, insurance companies have
shown interest in this field, and various papers and reports
have been published. It is important to be able to estimate the
likelihood and the social, economic, and environmental con-
sequences of a flood disaster (Fig. 4).
The identification of flood-prone areas can be approached
by different methods. Some authors have used specific
criteria, including historical, geomorphological, hydrologic-
hydraulic, and remote-sensing methods. Other authors have
combined methods, which can yield better results because
such an approach can compensate for the limitations of indi-
vidual methods. Notable results have been achieved, for
example, by combining historical and geomorphological
Floods
methods or geomorphological and hydrological methods or
by an approach based on historical-hydro-geomorphological
reconstitution and hydrological-hydraulic modeling.
In recent decades, GIS (geographical information systems)
and LiDAR (laser imaging detection and ranging) have been
important tools in spatial processing. GIS uses a series of
software tools to capture, store, extract, transform, and dis-
play real-world spatial data, whereas LiDAR is an optical
remote-sensing technology for creating high-resolution digi-
tal models of the earth’s surface. LiDAR is particularly useful
because the ongoing construction of levees, dikes, roads,
railway embankments, and buildings constantly changes the
land’s appearance. Regardless of the method, the quality of
the results obtained is always dependent on the assessment of
the natural world. Only after a flood can a model be
recalibrated and inadequacies improved.
Conclusions
Floods are one of the more significant natural processes affect-
ing populations. In the twentieth century, eight great floods in
China (the most harmful in history) killed more than seven
Floods 349

million inhabitants. Every year, in fact, there are numerous ▶ Coast Defenses
floods in populated areas all over the world: the waters flood ▶ Coastal Environments
the land and destroy crops, facilities, and infrastructure, often ▶ Cofferdam
causing the death of thousands of people. More people are ▶ Current Action
affected by floods than by any other type of natural disaster. ▶ Dams
More than 20 million people worldwide are affected by river ▶ Earthquake
floods each year on average and that number could increase to ▶ Engineering Geomorphological Mapping
54 million in 2030 due to climate change and socioeconomic ▶ Engineering Geomorphology
development (World Resources Institute 2016). ▶ Environments
Better land-use planning and flood risk reduction espe- ▶ Erosion
cially in heavily populated areas will have to take into con- ▶ Factor of Safety
sideration most of the following aspects: ▶ Fluvial Environments
▶ Gabions F
1. Accurate definition of river corridors based on the
▶ Geohazards
basin’s historical, geomorphological, and hydraulic
▶ Glacier Environments
characteristics.
▶ Hazard Assessment
2. Redesign of the area’s principal man-made structures, after
▶ Hazard Mapping
evaluation of their interactions with the river dynamics.
▶ Hydraulic Action
3. Review of local planning procedures based on current
▶ Hydrogeology
knowledge with recognition of zones at different
▶ Hydrology
degrees of risk where different rules will have to be
▶ Infrastructure
applied.
▶ Instrumentation
4. Relocation of urbanized areas. Rather than spend millions
▶ International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH)
to “secure” high-risk areas, an economically wiser choice
▶ Landslide
would be to build new houses, industrial sheds, schools,
▶ Levees
and other constructions in low-risk areas where inhabitants
▶ Lidar
and business could safely relocate. This eliminates the
▶ Marine Environments
need to compensate a certain percentage of damage and
▶ Monitoring
rebuilding within an area that is likely to be destroyed or
▶ Nearshore Structures
flooded again 5–20 years in the future.
▶ Probabilistic Hazard Assessment
5. Introduction of compulsory insurance coverage. Taking
▶ Reservoirs
the example from countries where insurance coverage
▶ Risk Assessment
has long been a regular procedure, this may be an effective
▶ Risk Mapping
tool to favorably influence urban development of already
▶ Run-Off
heavily populated areas. When combined with a flow of
▶ Saturation
information to citizens and local communities, this mea-
▶ Sea Level
sure would spare the government the relief expenses usu-
▶ Tsunamis
ally spent on helping communities in the wake of natural
▶ Water
disasters.
6. Only with a farsighted view that embraces the watercourse
as a whole system, including large works upstream with References
flood control reservoirs, or local works like floodway
channels, bridges without piers in the riverbed, and regular Anderson WA (1964) The Baldwin Hills, California Dam Disaster.
removal of natural vegetation from the riverbed can the Disaster Research Center, The University of Delaware, 19.
damage of future floods be limited. Baxter PJ (2005) The east coast Big Flood, 31 Jan–1 Feb 1953: a
summary of the human disaster. Philosophical Transactions
A-Royal Society. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2005.1569
Habib P (1987) The Malpasset Dam failure. In: Leonards GA
Cross-References (ed) Proceedings of the international symposium on dam failures.
Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 331–338
▶ Aerial Photography Kelman I, Spence R, Palmer J, Petal M, Saito K (2008) Tourists and
▶ Armor Stone disasters: lessons from the 26 December 2004 tsunamis. J Coast
Conserv 12:105–113
▶ Beach Replenishment
Luino F, Turconi L, Petrea C, Nigrelli G (2012) Uncorrected land-use
▶ Catchment planning highlighted by flooding: the Alba case study (Piedmont,
▶ Climate Change Italy). Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 12:2329–2346
350
Miller DJ (1960) The Alaska earthquake of July 10, 1958: Giant wave in
Lituya Bay. Bull Seism Soc Am 50:253–266
Rettemeier K, Nilkens B, Falkenhagen B, Köngeter J (2001) New
developments in dam safety- feasibility evaluation on risk assess-
ment. Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Man-
agement, Aachen University of Technology, Aachen, Germany.
Semenza E, Ghirotti M (2000) History of the 1963 Vaiont slide: the
importance of geological factors. Bull Eng Geol Environ 59(2):
87–97
Smith K (2013) Environmental hazards: assessing risk and reducing
disaster, 6th edn. Taylor and Francis Group, Routledge, p. 477
Vincent C, Garambois S, Thibert E, Lefebvre E, Le Meur E, Six D (2010)
Origin of the outburst flood from Glacier de Tête Rousse in 1892
(Mont Blanc area, France). J Glaciol 56(198):688–698
World Resources Institute (2016) www.wri.org/blog/2015/03/world%
E2%80%99s-15-countries-most-people-exposed-river-floods, from
webpage www.wri.org. Last access 26 Feb 2016
Fluid Withdrawal
Giuseppe Gambolati
Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental
Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Synonyms
Gas extraction; Groundwater extraction; Oil extraction
Definition
Fluid withdrawal involves the extraction of groundwater, ther-
mal water, oil, or gas from the subsurface. Depth of extraction
may range from few meters (e.g., water table aquifers) to
several kilometers (oil/gas reservoirs). Time period of extrac-
tion is generally on the order of several years or even decades.
Introduction
One major environmental, social, and economic consequence
of groundwater pumping and gas/oil/geothermal water pro-
duction is anthropogenic land subsidence. To be of major
concern, subsurface fluid withdrawal must occur in densely
populated or highly developed areas located close to the sea,
or a lagoon, or a delta and take place within unconsolidated
geological basins of alluvial, lacustrine, or shallow marine
origin, formed typically, although not exclusively, during the
Quaternary period. The first observation concerning land
subsidence due to fluid removal was made almost one century
ago by the American geologists Pratt and Johnson (1926) who
wrote that “the cause of the subsidence is to be found in the
extensive extraction of oil, water, gas, and sand from beneath
the affected area” which was located above the oil field of
Goose Creek, S. Jacinto Bay, Texas, USA.
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Fluid Withdrawal
Occurrence
The early conjecture of Pratt and Johnson (1926) was later
confirmed and reconfirmed by countless examples of anthro-
pogenic land subsidence, and especially so in the second half
of the last century. Figure 1 shows the areas of major anthro-
pogenic land subsidence worldwide. The maximum recorded
settlement amounts to as much as 14 m and 13 m due to
geothermal water production at Wairakei, New Zealand, and
groundwater pumping in Mexico City, respectively. How-
ever, settlement over the range 5–10 m is no exception (e.g.,
S. Joaquin Valley, CA, USA, 10 m; Wilmington oil field, CA,
USA, 9 m; Ekofisk oil field, North Sea, 6.7 m). The depth of
pumping wells may range from those tapping very shallow
water table aquifers just close to the ground surface to those
tapping very deep (4000–5000 m) gas/oil reservoirs. In the
case of complex aquifer systems, the overall extent of the
sinking area can be on the order of several thousands of km2.
China is perhaps the country where anthropogenic land sub-
sidence due primarily to subsurface water overdraft has
occurred in the largest number of settling areas with a cumu-
lative size close to 80,000 km2 (see the inset of Fig. 1 for the
major sinking areas and cities in China).
Mechanism
The mechanism by which rocks deform and compact under
the influence of fluid extraction, and hence a fluid head
change, is well understood. The total geostatic or overburden
load st, which is the weight of the overlying material column
acting upon the aquifer or reservoir and confining beds, is
balanced by the fluid pore pressure p and the effective vertical
and horizontal inter-granular stresses sev and seh, which are
the stresses exchanged between the rock grains in contact
(Fig. 2). The introduction of a pumping well into a natural
fluid flow system produces a disturbance that yields an abate-
ment of the fluid pore pressure with a stress transfer from the
fluid phase to the solid phase, and a consequent increase in
effective stress under whose influence the pumped and neigh-
boring formations compact, with the amount of compaction
primarily related to the compressibility of the drained layers
and the fluid pore pressure decline. The resulting cumulative
compaction of subsurface layers extends its effect to the
ground surface, which therefore subsides.
Most freshwater aquifer systems are normally consoli-
dated and pressurized, or only slightly over-pressurized, and
may lack important faults given the typical formation mech-
anism involving a depositional alluvial/marine environment
that takes place without significant tectonic interference.
However, their geomechanical simplicity may be partly offset
by a litho-stratigraphic complexity related to the actual distri-
bution of clay, silt, and sand-rich soils within the compacting