11 FLOOD MITIGATION

11.1 Introduction
Flooding is the inundation of normally dry land by a stream overtopping its banks. It is a natural
periodic event in the history of any river. Flooding of water channels and flood plains mainly
occurs as a result of heavy rains and sometimes melting snow in the watershed/catchment area of
the stream, river, or lake.

Floods have caused extensive damage and are likely to increase in the future due to increased
encroachment on flood plains in both urban and rural areas. To prevent such damage and losses, it
is important to find means of averting floods and initiating flood damage relief measures. Civil
engineers need to play a key role in flood mitigation and designing structures to withstand
flooding, placing a heavy burden on engineering to provide technical solutions to flooding (ICE,
2001).

11.2 Causes of Flooding

11.2.1 Heavy Rains and Other Extreme Weather Phenomena

For most parts of the world, that periodically experience devastating floods, heavy rainfall and
cyclones are the major causes. Usually heavy rainfall resulting from weather phenomena like "El
Nino" results in large volumes of surface runoff, which is discharged into receiving streams and
rivers. Where the channel geometry in terms of cross sectional area and slope cannot convey this
runoff fast enough, the capacity of the river is exceeded. Consequently, the river overtops its
banks and then spreads outwards along the flood plain, which results in the flooding
phenomenon.

11.2.2 Siltation of Waterways

Flooding is worsened by heavy silt loads, which are deposited by, rivers at relatively flatter areas
of the river course. Siltation decreases the effective cross-sectional area of the river channel
thereby reducing its capacity to convey large discharges quickly.

11.2.3 Encroachment of Flood Plains and Wetlands

Excessive flood damage and problems have ensued from the occupation of flood plains. There is
increased pressure on land for settlement and agriculture because of increasing population and
global urbanization trends. As such flood plains and wetlands are being reclaimed for human
settlement and development activities.
Structures within the waterway or flood plain obstruct the flow of water and raise the water level
hence increasing the risk of flooding. In coastal areas, flooding will usually occur due to stream
flow being impeded by rising tides.

11.2.4 The World’s Largest Floods

The largest floods during the Quaternary period (a period of 1.8 million years ago up to the
present day) have been categorized as those with flows greater than 100,000 m3/s and this
includes 27 floods the world over. Only 4 of the 27 largest documented floods were primarily
because of meteorological conditions and atmospheric water sources. Furthermore, if only
historic events are considered, the proportion of meteorological floods is only 4 out of 10.
The largest known floods had peak discharges of 20 million m3/s and resulted from breaches of
glacial age ice dams that blocked large midcontinent drainage systems during the ice ages (8 of
the 27). Most of the largest other documented floods resulted from breaches of other types of
natural dams including landslide dams (3 of the 27), ice dams from smaller glaciers (4 of the 27),
subglacial volcanic eruptions (2 of the 27) releases from caldera lakes (1 of the 27), proglacial-
lake overflow (2 of the 27) lake basin overflow (1 of the 27) and ice jam floods (3 of the 27).

The largest meteorological floods include the floods of 1953, 1963 and 1976 of the Amazon
River at Obidos and the 1870 flood of Yangtze River in China. The Amazon River drains the
world’s largest basin (7 million km2) and is in the tropics like the Yangtze, which also receives
substantial tropical moisture. Meteorological floods are by far the most common of the types of
floods for the human experience. They can bring good l alluvium soils like the floods of the Nile
Delta or they can lead to catastrophic life and destruction of property.

In general, larger basins produce larger floods; the variation to this is due to the larger unit
discharges, primarily between latitudes 10o S and 30o N. The largest floods in large basins within
the tropics are primarily derived from rainfall within areas affected by tropical cyclones or strong
monsoonal airflow like the Brahmaputra, Ganges, Yangtze, Mekong, Huangue River Basins.
Several large basins do not produce relatively large peak discharges. These include Congo, Niger,
Chari (in Chad) and San Francisco River Basins, which drain large areas of low relief or are
isolated from zones of major precipitation.

It should also be noted that the incidence of floods caused by different processes changes through
time. Most of the largest documented floods in the past 100 years resulted from the failures of
natural dams, but conditions that caused some of these failures are now absent. These periods can
be considered as flood epochs when climate and topography combine to produce higher than
typical frequencies of large floods. In many cases outsized floods from previous flood epochs
were dominant forces in establishing regional drainage networks and landscape patterns that
persisted into times of fewer extreme floods. Other geologically controlled floods, like those
resulting from large volcanic eruptions, or large valley blocking landslides, are likely to be more
distributed with time and the likelihood of occurrence is guided by the analysis of past events.
The largest floods are not evenly distributed around the world. Those caused by natural dam
failure and closed basin spillovers have been in the mid latitudes, whereas the largest
meteorological floods are in the tropical regions (USGS, 2004).

11.3 Flood Destruction and Flood Related Losses

In the recent past, floods have caused extensive destruction and damage in various parts of the
world and this damage can be expected to increase in the future as increased developments take
place on flood plains. Most flood damage in urban areas is related to loss of life, destruction of
buildings, disruption of water supplies, sewage reticulation and communications just to mention
but a few. In rural areas, the damage is principally the loss of production due to inundation of
farmland due to erosion, saturation, leaching and deposition of sediment. Other potential
consequences in both urban and rural areas are the contamination of water sources and the
incidence of waterborne and water related diseases such as cholera and malaria.

Flood damage can be direct or indirect. Indirect damages are further divided into tangible and
intangible losses. Direct damages constitute economic losses directly incurred as rural and urban
property, to facilities and utilities and agriculture crops and livestock.
Indirect damages refer mainly to the economic losses emerging from disruption of normal
economic activities, which depreciate the productivity of the affected area. Other indirect tangible
losses include expenditure amassed in alleviating hardships, safeguarding health during a flood
and providing relief. Loss of human life, rehabilitation costs and losses of livelihoods are indirect
intangible losses.

Table 11.1 gives a representation of flood damage in monetary terms that was incurred as a result
of floods that hit various parts of the world in the year 2000.

Table 0.1: 2000 Global Register of Extreme Flood Events

Began - Ended Duration Known Number Damage

Location
(m/d/yr.) (days) Dead Displaced Estimate (US$)

10/11/00 -
United Kingdom 3 0 1,000 5,900,000,000
10/14/00

United Kingdom 10/29/00 - UK: 12

6,000 3,000,000,000
and Ireland 11/15/00 Ireland: 1
Southern
Mozambique,
Northeastern South 01/26/00 -
61 929 733,000 1,000,000,000
Africa, Botswana, 03/28/00
Zimbabwe, Malawi
and Swaziland
11/17/00 -
Eastern Australia 15 nd 600 265,000,000
12/01/00

07/31/00 -
Northern India 4 140 4,000 238,000,000
08/03/00

Romania, Hungary, 04/05/00 -

20 10 623 212,000,000
Serbia and Ukraine 04/24/00

08/23/00 -
Southern India 9 162 3,000,000 177,000,000
08/31/00

Central and
09/01/00 -
southern China - 5 47 46,000 169,000,000
09/05/00
Typhoon Maria
Source: NASA-supported Dartmouth Observatory (summarized to give damage above US$ 100,000,000)

Tangible losses and intangible losses used are discussed below.

11.3.1 Intangible losses
Intangible losses are losses that derive from floods and cannot be assessed in monetary terms.
Some examples are:
a) Loss of human life, which translates into loss of potential productivity.
b) Deterioration of confidence of investors in possible investment ventures in flood prone areas.
c) Loss of agriculturally productive land inundated by floods.
d) Social distress and loss of livelihoods of communities

11.3.2 Tangible losses

These losses can be quantified in monetary terms. They are grouped into direct and indirect
losses.
Direct losses include:
a) Loss of cattle and livestock
b) Destruction of personal and public property
c) Devastation of growing and pre-harvest crops in plantations
d) Disruption of economic activities
e) Disruptions of services like communication
f) Decline in property and land values within flood prone areas
g) Destruction of infrastructure like bridges, feeder roads, power and telephone lines
h) Costs incurred in implementing flood-fighting measures, relief, evacuation and rehabilitation
of flood victims

Indirect losses include:

a) Expenses incurred in terms of medical care
b) Losses accruing from disruption of business
c) Inconveniences and losses caused by disruption in the functioning of transport and
communication

11.4 Some Recent Floods

There has been an increase in flooding of major rivers and flood plains in many places all over
the world. The flooding of the Mississippi river in New Orleans U.S.A in 2005, the flood plains
in England and more recently floods in Burkina Faso and North Eastern Uganda. Over the months
of August and September, 2007, Africa was hit by some of the worst floods in its recent past. It is
reported by the United Nations that over 1.5 million people in 18 countries were affected by these
floods with the worst hit areas being Uganda and Ghana.
In Uganda, the floods were reported to be the heaviest in the last 35 years. The floods also
damaged roads and bridges, making it difficult to reach the affected people. A state of emergency
was declared in the region of Teso in the North East, where over 400,000 people were displaced
from their homes by floods. 25 districts were affected with the worst hit being Katakwi and
Amuria in Teso region. According to reports, three sub-counties in Katakwi district were
inaccessible by road or bridges. The only access for relief reaching the displaced persons was
either airlifting or the use of boats. There was severe outbreak of starvation among the displaced
population and fear of outbreak of water-borne diseases. It was predicted that the worst of the
flooding was yet to come with more rains expected in mid November continuing into December
of 2007. The cost of damage caused by the floods was estimated at about US$ 70 million. Most of
the funds went towards restocking food, relocation of Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) Camps,
rehabilitation and improvement of school environment, reconstruction of roads, disease out
breaks, shelter and safe water among others. Many questions were raised in Uganda about its
disaster preparedness measures and whether the devastation the floods caused could have been
prevented. Flooding of this kind has brought to the fore front the need for proper and affordable
flood prevention methods (New Vision 2007, Monitor, 2007, BBC, 2007).
Other countries in Africa that have been affected by the rains include Niger, Burkina Faso,
Nigeria and Liberia. Below is an account of recent floods in Africa and Europe with
Mozambique and the Ukraine as the selected cases.

11.4.1 Mozambique
Mozambique faced fresh floods early 2001 less than six months since the devastating floods that
hit the country 2000. Devastating floods hit the southern Mozambique for nearly three months
late 2001, when some 700 people drowned and some half a million were displaced.
Mozambique has suffered massive floods for two years in a row from 2001-2002 though in
different parts of the country.
Mozambique appealed for US$30 million in aid to deal with the floods that affected almost
400,000 people in the Central Provinces of Zambezia, Sofala, Manica and Tete. The major
problem arose from the high discharges of the Zambezi River of about 11,000 m3/s, flowing into
the Cabora Bassa dam and yet the floodgates could only release a maximum of 7,500 m3/s.

11.4.2 Ukraine
In Europe, floods ravaged many areas in 2001-2002 In western Ukraine in March 2001 flooding
caused loss of life, disruption of life and extensive damage. More than 35,000 people had to be
evacuated from Ukraine's Zakarpattia region because of heavy rains and melting snow that
overflowed rivers and burst dikes around the Carpathian Mountains.

At least 20,000 houses were flooded and about 200 submerged villages in western Ukraine and
northeastern Hungary. More than 50 kilometres of roads and about 9 kilometres of railway were
destroyed in the Ukrainian part of the flooded area, where workers used almost half a million
sand bags sent from neighbouring regions to strengthen dikes.

In Hungary, efforts were made to build a second line of defense after a dike burst at
Vasarosnameny, 240 kilometres (150 miles) east of Budapest. The main road between the
villages of Takos and Csaroda, near the Ukrainian border, was also demolished in two places,
allowing floodwaters flow to low-lying areas. Experts pointed out that the water levels, which are
the highest in more than a century, are causing less damage than the record floods of 1998
because of dyke reinforcement work since then. The floods have caused damages of billions
of dollars to Hungary since 1998 (The Associated Press & Reuters, 2001).

11.5 Flood Control and Mitigation Measures

Flood control measures may be structural or non structural. Structural measures are those that
alter the river system by means of structures in the watershed (extensive measures) or in the river
(intensive measures) to prevent flood water overflowing into the flood plain. Non- Structural
measures are those in which the losses from the flooding are reduced for the convenience of the
population, using preventive measures such as flood warnings, zoning of risk areas, flood
insurance and individual protection measures (flood proofing). Flooding is controlled by a
combination of structural and non-structural measures enabling the riverside population to
minimise losses and continue to live in harmony with the river. These include engineering and
social, economic and administrative measures. The planning of protection against flooding and its
effects involves research into the ideal combination of these measures (Tucci, 2006). A flood is
the result of runoff from rainfall and/or melting snow in quantities too large to be confined in
low-water channels. Man can do little or nothing to prevent a major flood after heavy rains.
Flood - damage mitigation is a term used to embrace methods for combating the effects of excess
water in streams/water ways. What is sought consequently is to reduce flood damage to a
minimum consistent with the cost involved. However, man can minimize damage to crops and
property within flood plains.

11.5.1 Structural Measures

Structural measures are engineering works implemented to reduce the risk of flooding. These may
be extensive or intensive. Extensive measures are those that act in the watershed aiming to change
the relationships between precipitation and flow, such as altering the vegetation cover of the soil,
which reduces and delays the flood peaks and controls erosion in the watershed. Intensive
measures are those that respond in the river and are of three types (Simons et al,1977) namely: i)
accelerating flow; construction of dykes and polders, increasing discharge capacity and cutting
meanders; ii) delaying flow; attenuation reservoirs and basins and iii) diverting flow: structures
such as diversion canals.

11.5.1.1 Extensive Measures

i) Vegetation Cover
It has been demonstrated that deforestation is a major cause of flooding. Vegetable cover removes
moisture from the soil through the process of transpiration and also promotes loose organic soil,
which is favorable for the infiltration of rainfall.
A heavy vegetal cover also means a high interception during storms. The vegetal cover therefore
provides a significant storage as interception. It therefore follows that the potential surface runoff
is considerably minimized which reduces incidence of floodwaters. However vegetal cover is
only effective in the mitigation of minor storms. The alleviation effects are minor in case of major
storms especially so when a major storm is preceded by storm which fills the storage capacity of
the interception.
Crops can also be cultivated in fields to avoid bare, fallowed ground during the non-growing
season.

ii) Control of Soil Erosion

Increased soil erosion results in the transport of sediments and aggregates and can contaminate
rivers downstream, reducing their cross section and upsetting the rivers’ load and transport
balance, thereby producing environmental effects. The reduction in cross section as a result of
sedimentation will lead to increased flooding. Soil erosion can be controlled by reafforestation,
contour ploughing, terracing, contour bunds, stabilization of river banks and small reservoirs.
These methods retard and reduce runoff and promote infiltration and reduce prevalence of
flooding. Small reservoirs are excavated in the ground and the water can be used for irrigation
among other purposes. The excavation follows the contours of the ground and they have a base
width of 1.5 - 2.0m and a depth of 15 - 20 cm. They are closely spaced so as to store surface
runoff without overtopping.
The runoff is stored in the ditches until it has all infiltrated into the ground. The infiltration should
take a short time (the soil should be highly permeable and unsaturated) so that it is empty when
the next flood occurs. Terraces therefore reduce flow, prevent soil erosion and increase ground
water supply.
11.5.1.2 Intensive Measures
i) The acceleration of flow through the confinement of flow within predetermined channels can
be achieved with the construction of dykes, levees, floodwalls and polders. These are lateral walls
of earth and concrete sloping or upright built at a certain distance from the bank to protect the
riverside areas against overflows. It can also be achieved through cutting meanders.
a) Flood Control using Levees and Floodwalls
After dams, levees are probably the structures most used for broad-based flood control. Levees
and floodwalls are essentially longitudinal dams erected roughly parallel to the riverbank rather
than across its channel. Flood levees are constructed between the area to be protected and the
river channel.
A levee is an earth dike, while a floodwall is usually of masonry construction. Fig 11.1 gives an
illustration of a levee construction and Fig 11.2 gives other typical cross sections of levees.

River

Levee Revetment

Fig 0.1 Levee construction

Levees are most commonly used for flood mitigation because they can be built at relatively low
cost of materials available on site. Levees are usually built of materials excavated from burrow
pits parallel to the levee line. When designing levees, sufficient channel must be provided to
transmit the design flow with a reasonable freeboard against wave action. The channel width
between levees and the height of the levees are closely related. The cost of a levee system
consists of the cost of the land for the levees and channel plus the cost of the levee construction.
Levees should undergo regular channel inspection by competent engineers who will look for
evidence of dangerous developments like bank caving, weak spots, foundation settlement, bank
sloughing and erosion.
b)Floodwalls
Floodwalls are used in developed areas where it is difficult to obtain enough land for the
construction of levees. Levees require a very large base width, because of flat slopes. Where land
is costly or limited, like in urban areas, it is more economical to construct floodwalls. A floodwall
is a sort of gravity dam constructed along the river. Floodwalls are designed to withstand
hydrostatic pressure like gravity dams. Fig 11.3 shows typical floodwall cross sections.

Fig 0.2 Typical cross sections of Levees

 Concrete Wall

SOLID PILE WALL

Sheet Pile

SIMPLE CANTILEVER AND SHEET

Fig 0.3 Cross sections of different types of floodwall

c) Channel Improvement
Channel improvement involves improving the hydraulic properties of the channel. Removal of
brush and snags, dredging of bars, strengthening of bends and other devices can be effective;
though care must be taken not to make the channel susceptible to bank erosion. Channel
improvement aids flood mitigation by decreasing Manning's n for the reach, increasing hydraulic
radius by increasing depth and increasing the channel slope by shortening the channel length.
However channelization initiates so many environmental problems that it can only be justified on
the basis of providing an essential aid to navigation and/or a flood -protection measure in urban or
other highly developed areas.

From Manning's formula, discharge Q is given by;

2 1
AR 3 S 2
(11.1)
Q =
n

Channel improvement therefore increases the discharge capacity of the river by increasing the
flow area; A and decreasing the surface roughness n. Roughness of the channel n is reduced by
the removal of bushes, dredging of sandbars and preventing cropping in the river bed.
Some of the various methods of channel improvement are;
(i) Increasing channel section
(ii) Realignment of the river
(iii) Increasing the river velocity
(iv) Increasing waterways at crossings
ii) The delaying of the flow and attenuation of the peak flow can be achieved by the construction
of reservoirs as expod-mitigation reservoirs store a portion of the flood flow in such a way as to
minimize the flood peak at the point to be protected. Ideally the reservoir would be situated
immediately upstream from the protected area and is operated to "cut off" the flood peak. This is
achieved by discharging all reservoir inflow until the outflow reaches the safe capacity of the
channel downstream. All flow above this rate is stored until the inflow drops below the safe
channel capacity and the stored water is released to recover the storage capacity for the next
flood.

Though the most effective flood mitigation is obtained from an adequate reservoir located
immediately upstream from the point (or reach to be protected, such a reservoir would often be
located in a broad flood plain where a very long dam would be necessary and a large area of
valuable land would be flooded. Sites further upstream require smaller dams and less valuable
land, but are less effective in attenuating flood peaks. This loss in effectiveness issues from the
influence of channel storage and from lack of control over the local inflow between the reservoir
and the protected area. Economic considerations and other factors often favour upstream sites
despite its lesser effectiveness (Linsleyand Franzini 1979).

Types of Reservoirs
There are two (2) types of flood-mitigation reservoirs,
a) Storage reservoirs and
b) Retarding basins
These differ only in the type of outlet works provided. Gates and valves regulate the discharge
from a storage reservoir. Storage reservoirs for flood mitigation differ from conservation
reservoirs only in the need for a large sluice way capacity to permit rapid draw down in advance
of or after a flood. A retarding basin is provided with fixed, ungated outlets, which automatically
regulate the outflow in accordance with the volume of water in storage. The outlet usually
consists of a large spillway or one or more ungated sluiceways. A simple spillway is normally
undesirable because storage below the crest of the spillway cannot be used. These dams should be
designed taking account of environmental considerations and an Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) should be conducted. In order to be cost effective, multiple uses of the water
should be considered. These could include in addition to flood control, irrigation, power
generation, domestic water supply, navigation, wildlife management and recreational activities.

iii) The diversion of flow can be achieved through the construction of floodways and diversion
channels.
Floodways
Floodways serve to alleviate flooding by diversion of floodwaters through floodways. These
structures provide two functions in flood mitigation.
(i) They create large shallow reservoirs, which store a portion of the floodwater and hence
decrease the flow in the main channel below the diversion.
(ii) Secondly, they provide an additional outlet for water from upstream, increasing
velocity and decreasing stage for some distance above the point of diversion.

Floodways store a quota of the floodwater during the peak flood period, and thus decrease the
discharge in the main channel of the river below the point of diversion. After the flood recedes in
the main channel of the river, the water stored in the floodway is allowed to flow back to the
main. Fig 11.4 illustrates the operation of floodway.
 Diversion
River Flow

Flood Way

Fig 0.4 Operation of a floodway

Flood control using floodways is only possible if the topography of the valley is suitable and low-
value land is available, which can be used for the floodways. The land used for floodways can be
used for agriculture for the rest of the period when floods are not occurring.

11.5.2 Non Structural Measures

These measures are used to significantly reduce the risk of flood damage to land and property and
loss of human life at a lower cost. They include;

i. Flood Plain Management

ii. Flood Proofing
iii. Emergency Planning and Warning Systems
iv. Flood Insurance
v. Flood Forecasting

i) Flood Plain Management

The term flood plain refers to all land outside a river channel that may be inundated by floods.
However, rarely this may occur. Sediment deposition or removal accompanying intermittent
overflows of the stream above its low-water channel forms the flood plain of a river. Flood plains
are prime areas for agricultural development due to their fertile, near-horizontal alluvial deposits.
Residential properties with river frontages have higher value than those further from the river.
Open, flat areas on flood plains have a number of advantages for industrial development. Property
owners on flood plains seldom appreciate that it is the river itself that formed the flood plain, and
where the river has flowed in the past, it will flow again. Flood plain management is adopted to
minimise the flood damage in flood plains.
The tools of flood plain management are many and include:
• Flood Plain Zoning
• Developing a Flood Hazard Map

a) Flood Plain Zoning

Flood plain zoning is a legal device through, which local jurisdictions can restrict occupying of
the flood plain to uses that will suffer little or no damage during floods. Development of flood
plain is divided into different zones, according to susceptibility to a particular flood frequency.
Floods of different return periods say 1 year, 2 years, 3 years … 50 years are calculated and the
areas that would be submerged by the flood determined and delineated. The Figs 11.5 and Fig
11.6 illustrate this:

Fig 0.5 Levels of flows of different return periods of a waterway

In this case, the area that is on average susceptible to flooding every year is less than that
susceptible to flooding every five (5) years. The areas which are extremely flood prone and those
which are comparatively less flood prone are demarcated as illustrated in Fig 11.6. The entire
flood plain area may be divided into zones, specifying restrictive uses for each, depending on its
vulnerability to flooding. The zones can be restricted to the following uses; the area that is prone
to flooding yearly may be put to agricultural use, however only crops that can be harvested well
before the onset of the rain season should be cultivated. There should be no buildings erected in
such areas.

Moderately flood prone areas can be used for structures that are less temporary. The flood plain
can therefore be divided into three (3) zones.
• Prohibitive zone
• Restrictive zone
• Warning zone

i) Prohibitive Zone
These are areas where no building activity is to be permitted; as they are highly liable to frequent
flooding. Squatters should under no circumstance encroach upon this area, at most only
temporary agricultural uses may be allowed.

ii) Restrictive Zone

This area is one that is moderately prone to floods and would be inundated once in around five (5)
or ten (10) years. The flood hazard in this area is therefore less than it is in the prohibitive zone.
The area can therefore be allowed for construction of less populated and less costly buildings, or
for those structures that are not likely to be seriously damaged by floods.

iii) Warning Zones

This area would be prone to flooding only when floods exceeding the design flood occurred. It
therefore carries less risk of being flooded. All activities may accordingly be permitted in this
area with satisfactory precautions in place.
 Channel

Floodway
Flood Fringe Flood Fringe

“100-year” Floodplain

Channel

Definition sketch of floodplain delineations.

Fig 0.6 Floodplain delineation for water channels

The design flood is defined as the discharges that may be expected from the most severe
combination of meteorological and hydrologic conditions that are considered reasonably
characteristic of the geographical region involved, excluding extremely rare combinations. Strict
implementation of such flood plain management tools as flood plain zoning can significantly
lessen the losses and damage incurred due to floods.

200 years (15.80 m) DRC SIDE

100 years (14.13 m)

25 years (10.79 m)
5 years (6.73 m)
UGANDA SIDE

Fig 0.7 An arbitrary cross section of Lake Albert showing the different flood zones and
their magnitude
In a study on flooding of Lake Albert (Rugumayo and Kayondo, 2006), the cross section was
divided into different flood zones, based on the return periods as shown in Fig 11.8. Furthermore,
the recommended measures for flood mitigation include the establishment of an early warning
system, sensitization of local inhabitants, development of a land management policy, using the
flood zones and establishment of flood defences and installation of more automatic gauging
stations.

b )Developing a Flood Hazard Map

A Flood Hazard Map (FHM) is an important tool that can be developed for a particular area that
is prone to floods. It provides information which includes past flood track records, flood
anticipation, potential evacuation routes, and evacuation places to local residents and has been
found indispensible for long term disaster management in places like Japan. The FHM takes into
account that floods have some advantages to the community. It is also useful in developing a
flood policy and developing potential strategies. Because of its significance, the International
Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) is therefore supporting the transfer
and adaptation of this tool to developing countries and has started through capacity building
efforts and has established a network (Tanaka et al, 2006). One of the methods for monitoring
flood risk is the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI). This has been discussed in more detail under
Section 6.8.4.

ii) Flood Proofing

Bunds or levees are constructed to encircle property. An additional measure employed with flood
proofing is that buildings are sometimes made quite strong so as to resist hydrostatic and
hydrodynamic forces due to floodwaters. The lower stories of these buildings that may be
submerged in case of high floodwaters are constructed without windows or ring windows and
special techniques can be applied to ensure water tightness of doors when closed. Flood proofing
is an alternative flood plain management technique that can be used by individual property
owners to protect their property. A number of recommendations have been made (Bowker, 2003)
about making properties more resistant to floods.

a) External walls
Cracks within the brickwork joints or render below the expected maximum flood level should be
repaired to reduce the amount of seepage through the wall. A variety of water-resistant paints and
coatings or tanking are available that can help prevent floodwater soaking into the external face
of the wall, thus allowing the wall to dry out more quickly.

b) Internal walls
The same principles as set out above for the internal face of external solid walls apply to internal
walls of masonry. Stud walls, comprising timber framing and plasterboard are vulnerable to
damage from flooding. Consideration should be given to replacing untreated softwood timber
with water-resistant timber.

c) Floors
After floodwaters have subsided, water is likely to be retained below a suspended floor within the
sub-floor void. The sub-floor void should be cleaned of debris to allow future floodwater to be
quickly pumped away and to avoid moisture retention. For modern buildings the sub-floor area is
likely to be covered with 100mm of concrete or heavy-duty polyethylene sheeting with concrete
or sand blinding. Any damage to these linings as a result of flooding should be repaired during
the drying-out period.
In suspended concrete floors, consideration should be given to providing a fall to sub-floor
surface at an identified drainage point. Concrete beams within suspended concrete floors contain
reinforcement that can corrode if there is a high chloride content within the floodwater.

d) Basements
Basement construction should be avoided for new properties within flood risk areas. For existing
properties with basements, specialist advice must always be obtained before undertaking any
measures to prevent water ingress.

e) Fittings and Building Services

Generally, internal solid doors and frames are less susceptible to flood damage than hollow types,
which can fill up with contaminated water during flooding. Distortion can be minimized by
ensuring all faces of the timber, including the bottom face, are effectively sealed using either an
oil-based or waterproof stain or paint. The same applies for timber window frames. Flooding can
create blockages in drains and sewers, which can lead to the backflow of sewage into properties
through low-level drains gulleys, toilets, and washing machine outlets. This can be effectively
controlled by anti-flooding devices, within the private sewer of a property upstream of the public
sewerage system.

Flood Failure in Buildings

Kelman and Spence (2003) developed a flood failure flowchart in buildings as shown in Fig 11.8
and made the following observations:
a) Windows
Window units under an external pressure could experience:
• Glass breaking
• Failure of the lock, catch, or hinge, if it is on the inside
• Failure of the mullions, transoms, frame or joints failure of the mechanism for attaching
the frame to the wall (e.g. astic seal or screws) if it is on the inside
• Failure of the mechanism for attaching the glass to the frame (e.g. gasket or bead), if it is
on the inside.
Simultaneous failure is unlikely because the weakest components would normally fail before the
others.
b) Walls
Masonry walls, cavity or single, in residential dwellings in the UK would generally start failing
under a combined hydrostatic and hydrodynamic pressure of 5 – 10 kPa at the base. By 20 – 25
kPa at the base, most walls would have failed. A timber rather than block work inner leaf would
not be expected to strengthen the wall.
c) Doors
External doors on residential properties tend to open inwards or slide sideways. Many doors have
glass units, which may be treated in the same way as glass units in windows. Since the same glass
thickness is used for door and window glass units, door glass units will be much weaker than
window glass units. Otherwise, timber and PVC are the most common materials for doors and for
frames around door glass units.
d) Floors
The Department of Transport Local Regions (DTLR) comments; ‘modern solid concrete floors
with damp proof membranes are generally regarded as the most flood resistant floor type …
concrete floor slabs are unlikely to be significantly damaged by flooding.’ DTLR later states:
‘concrete floors, provided they are properly designed to withstand the pressure of floodwater, can
provide an effective seal to prevent water seeping up from the ground.’ Properly designed’
implies ‘leaving a small gap around the floor’s edges to relieve the pressure of the water,’ which
somewhat opposes the provision of ‘an effective seal’.
e) Foundations
In fine-grained soils, foundations may be destabilized if the flood erodes the surrounding soil.
Buoyancy is a concern too, although buoyancy problems with foundations may arise even without
flooding. Foundations are usually designed so that the weight of the structure on top is greater
than the expected buoyancy force for normal ranges of the water table, thereby keeping the
structure in place. Rising groundwater or increased soil saturation from flooding may produce
pressures which move, tilt, or lift the structure. Foundation movement may also weaken other
parts of the residence, causing secondary failures.
f) Roofs
BS 6399-3: 1988 is the relevant British Standard for imposed roof loads and suggests designing
for minimum imposed uniform loads of 0.6 – 0.5 kPa, depending on the roof type. If floodwater
is imparting a pressure on, or if waves or debris are penetrating through, a roof, then the residence
might be subjected to significant flood pressures lower down.

Fig.0.8: Flood Failure Flowchart

Source (Kelman, Spence 2003)

iii) Emergency Planning and Flood Warning

All structural measures put in place cannot guarantee absolute safeguard from flooding. Therefore
flood preparedness, relief and recovery measures have to be well planned in advance and put in
place so as to meet any disaster when it occurs to minimise loss of life and property. Flood
preparedness includes measures such as forecasting floods; flood warning systems; evacuation
teams and relief camps. These measures mostly involve human adjustment that is targeted at
minimising losses associated with floods. It is imperative therefore, that timely flood warnings
are dispatched, where potential flood threats exist. In lieu of the need for better flood
preparedness there is an increased emphasis on emergency plans with quick, effective responses
to major incidents.
Emergency planning departments are slowly growing into highly recognized and organized
organs in local authorities, with their roles varying from one to another and they play a significant
role in flood disaster mitigation measures (Abbot, 2002). Their main aim is to ensure
preparedness for an effective response to a major incident. A major incident is defined as an event
causing or threatening death or injury, damage to property or to the environment or community
disruption, whose effects cannot be dealt with by the emergency services and local authorities as
part of their day to day activities.
The process of preparing, testing and evaluating emergency plans is expressed as a planning cycle
with four main activities:
• Planning
A process often documented as paper plans. It involves the preparation of concepts on the
best possible procedures to follow in cases of emergency.
• Liaison
In this phase of the cycle relationships are developed between the local authority and
agencies involved in the response to an incident. This lays a sound foundation for a proper
understanding of roles and responsibilities of different organisations.
• Training and Exercise
Regular exercising of emergency plans ensures that the staff is well trained and the plans are
validated.
• Operational
This is the actual response to an emergency.

The local authority acts initially as a support to emergency services and eventually serves as a
resource to facilitate a return to normal for the affected communities.
Rapid Assessment and Priority Setting
In the event that a flood occurs, these emergency plans need to be carried out as quickly and
effectively as possible to avert major damage to property, environment or life. This can be
referred to as rapid assessment and priority setting (Harvey and Reed, 2002). The very nature of
emergencies is such that there are rapidly changing situations creating a lot of uncertainity and
providing limited or no time for pre-planning. Initial assessments need to be fast and
comprehensive to ensure that needs are met properly.
The assessment process is made up of:
a. Data Collection
This involves the collection of necessary background information pertaining to physical
and environmental factors, political, security and demographic data. However the most
important information is that dealing with current water and sanitation services, facilities
and practices. Although common methods of data collection include mapping,
diagramming, focus group discussions, questionnaires and observations the most widely
used is a series of checklists. These checklists are divided into quality, quantity and usage
of the facilities and may be completed on location.
b. Sectoral Analysis
Once the data is collected, it is analysed by comparison with recommended minimum
objectives for quality, quantity and usage. These objectives are based on the Sphere
Project standards for water and sanitation. The objectives are divided into short term,
intermediate and long term. In complex situations, numerical comparison rather than
comparison by inspection is preferred.
c. Priority Setting.
 Using the sectoral analysis, priority may be assigned to those areas requiring urgent
intervention. The use of numerical analysis allows for objective prioritization of needs.
It is essential that assessments and prioritization are made on qualitative, quantitative and
behavioral data with each group weighted equally. It is also important that these tools be viewed
as flexible methods, which can be adapted to local conditions.

Emergency Evacuation
Under certain circumstances, one of the most effective means of flood-damage relief is
emergency evacuation of the threatened area. With reliable flood forecasts this technique is used
in areas with sparse settlement where property values do not justify other control measures and
loss of life can be prevented by prompt evacuation. For example during the recent floods that
battered southern Africa in the months of February and March 2001, most especially
Mozambique, more than 58,000 people had to be evacuated from the towns of Marromeu and
Luabo. Evacuation in this case was the most effective means available as the onset of flooding
was without warning.

Evacuation is mainly realized by airlifting and using boats or canoes to move people to higher
and safer ground. Whenever there are evacuations of people other needs turn out to be evident
and these include food and shelter, which have to be taken into account. Evacuations of this
nature have become necessary because of the tendency to infringe on flood plains inside
riverbanks or lakeshores, which are highly desirable areas for settlement.

iv) Flood Insurance

The last decade has seen dynamic changes in weather patterns all over the world. The most
prominent being rainfall patterns resulting in severe flooding. The insurance industry has played a
big role in the recovery process of the affected areas. Insurance policies seek to offset most of the
risks faced by communities in the case of flooding. In light of the large costs associated with
floods, it is necessary for insurers to partner with other agencies involved in flood risk
management and disaster recovery (Milne, 2002). These agencies include the central government,
local authority, emergency services, water companies and sewage undertakers, property owners,
developers and lenders.
In order for the insurance industry to be effective there must be combined effort in terms of
policy making and implementation of flood defense mechanisms. The government and local
authorities are responsible for making clear policies and guidelines as regards flood management,
emergency services providing quick and effective responses to disasters and property owners
paying attention to the protection of property and life from flooding. This co-operation will
greatly reduce the risks incurred by flood damage and thereby ensure that flood insurance
premiums remain available and affordable making the recovery process faster.

v) Flood Forecasting
In order to be able to mitigate flood effects, it is necessary to know the magnitude of floods of
given return periods. Flood forecasting techniques range from a relatively simple approach using
graphical methods to sophisticated procedures requiring the use of fast processing computers.

The Design of Hydraulic Structures

The prediction of uncertain environmental variables is often a hydrologic problem of significance
in water resources management. Hydraulic structures are planned, designed, and constructed to
withstand a specific input of water. The input of water corresponds to an extreme hydrologic
event of a given severity like a flood.
Since it is practically impossible to predict the occurrence of such hydrologic events in an exact
deterministic manner, hydrologists have opted to forecasting the occurrence of such extreme
events in more broad statistical reasoning. Instead of predicting the time of occurrence of a flood
of a certain magnitude, the hydrologist verifies how often a flood of a given magnitude will
occur. For example, if a maximum annual flow rate of Q = 650 m3/s occurs in a watershed once
every 100 years on average, then it can be said that such a flow rate has a return period T of 100
years. As the value of T increases, the value of Q increases. The relationship between the return
period and the associated flow rate is derived from statistical analysis of the historical records in
the watershed. These statistical methods are discussed in Chapter 4.
Predicting peak discharge rates or synthesizing complete discharge hydrographs for use in
designing minor and major structures are two of the more challenging aspects of flood hydrology.
These structures require varying amounts of hydrologic design information. Generally, a
hydrologist is required to provide peak rates of discharge for a given design frequency, a stage
height at a design frequency or a complete discharge hydrograph for a design flood. Most designs
involving hydrologic analyses use a design flood that simulates some severe future event or
imitates some historical event.
Designs of flood mitigation structures are therefore developed based on both the long-term costs
and benefits (called risk-based methods), or on an estimate of the probable maximum flood that
could occur at the site (called critical-event methods).
From this it is apparent that the type, importance of the structure and economic development of
the surrounding area dictate the criteria used for design for determining the flood magnitude.

I. Risk-based Methods
Recent trends in design of minor and major structures are towards the use of economic risk
analyses rather than frequency-based designs. The risk method selects the structure size as that
which minimizes total expected costs. These are made up of the structure costs plus the potential
flood losses associated with the particular structure. The principles are illustrated in the Fig 11.8.

Minimum allowable
structure size, based on
Average annual cost US$

frequency criteria Total expected cost

Structure cost

Risk cost
(flood damages)

Optimal structure size, S*

(least total expected cost)
Smin Structure size, S

Fig 0.9 Principles of economic risk analysis for structure size selection
Source: (USFHA, 1981)
The total expected cost curve is the sum of the other two curves. Risk cost (flood damages,
structure damages, road and bridge losses, traffic interruptions) and structure costs are estimated
for each of several sizes. The optimal size or design is that with the smallest sum. Structures
selected by risk analysis are normally constrained to sizes equal to or larger than those resulting
from traditional frequency-based methods.

II. Critical Event Method

Due to the high risk to lives or property below major structures, their design generally includes
provisions for a flood caused by a combination of the most severe meteorological and hydrologic
conditions that are possible. Instead of designing for some frequency or least expected total cost,
flood handling facilities for the structures are sized to safely store or pass the most critical storm
or flood possible. Methods for designing by critical event techniques include:

1. Estimating the Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) and determining the associated flood
flow rates and volumes by transforming the precipitation to runoff.
2. Determining the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) by determining the PMP and converting it
to a flood by application of a rainfall-runoff model, including snowmelt runoff if pertinent.
3. Examining the flood plain and stream to identify fast-flood evidences such as high-water
marks, boulder marks on trees or banks, debris lines, historical accounts by local residents, or
geologic or geomorphologic evidences.
4. In some cases, the critical event method involves estimating the magnitude of the 500-year
event by various frequency or approximate methods. Often, such as in mapping floodplains,
the 500-year flood is estimated as a multiple of the 100-year event, ranging from 1.5 to 2.5.
Due to lack of longer-term records, frequency-based estimates are seldom attempted for
recurrence intervals exceeding 500 years.

Traditional flood defense methods, which revolve around finite flood measures, have been found
to be inadequate. This inadequacy is mainly due to the fact that they are capable of only reducing
the frequency of flooding while the risk of flooding remains. It is also impossible to eliminate
flooding risks using finite methods only. It has been realized that using a combination of flood
defence measures (Khatibi and Haywood, 2002) is more effective than a single one.
The foremost defense mechanisms used are finite measures, maintenance programs, development
control and flood forecasting and warning services. Flood warning systems are needed to reduce
the risks of flooding incidents associated with partial finite measures. Integrating flood
forecasting and warning systems in the finite methods increases their sustainability. New flood
forecasting models are incorporating the proportion that other defence mechanisms contribute to
the final outcome. This has made it possible to incorporate flood forecasting and warning services
in the flood management measures.

Flood Forecasting in Developing Countries

Flood forecasting and warning systems are very important in developing countries, especially
since structural methods are very limited there. The following steps are recommended in order to
lead to real disaster reduction: i) monitoring of meteorological and hydrological conditions ii)
flood forecasting, iii) analysis of forecasts and judgment) of hazardous risks, iv) dissemination of
warning and v) crisis management (flood fighting, evacuation). The typical problems associated
with each step are: i) low density of gauging stations, low sustainability of maintenance of
observatories, lack of a historic hydrological data base, ii) lack of real time hydrologic data and
therefore makes it difficult to construct a forecasting and warning system, iii) lack of historical a
hydrologic and statistical data of flood events and damages, therefore it is difficult to judge
hazardous risk compared with real time information and simulations, iv) lack of a disaster
management community and communication network, incompatibility of flood information with
local society need and v) improper governance, poor institutional framework and cooperation,
etc, respectively.
The International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) has developed
research themes to address each one of those problems as follows: i) development of a Satellite
based global real time rainfall map for flood forecasting and warning on a river basin scale; ii)
development of a rainfall forecasting system for ungauged basins; iii) development of a common
basis for quick and efficient implementation of flood forecasting and warning systems even for
poorly gauged basins iv) development of guidelines for flood warning dissemination to meet local
flood plain needs in different social settings and v) development of guidelines for integrated flood
management combined with other structural and non- structural measures (Fukami et al, 2006).

11.6 Complementing Flood Mitigation Efforts

Flood mitigation measures designed to modify flood magnitudes are, as already discussed,
planned to protect an area against a flood of a given return period. Therefore engineering
structures are designed using the design flood as the basis of the project. In the event that a flood
exceeding the design flood occurs, these protective structures cannot guarantee the safety of the
area from being swamped. In addition, there is always the limitation on the size of such structures
imposed by their capital cost requirements, especially so in developing countries. More often than
not, such structures are not economically justifiable and hence the option to settle for smaller
cheaper engineering structures.
The flood plains of rivers and lacustrine areas of lakes are the best choice for settlement of many
poor people of developing countries. Not only does this type of land provide for easy construction
of makeshift shelter but it also has rich fertile alluvial soils, which are preferred for agriculture.
The construction of flood protection works therefore in such cases may only exacerbate the
susceptibility to flooding for such areas. Consequently, so as to complement on flood reduction
measures in place, it is therefore important to have an efficient flood forecasting and advance
warning strategy in place. This ensures that, where all other measures cannot prevent or mitigate
flooding, people and valuable movable property can be evacuated in time. Such flooding
forecasting systems can also be utilized in the efficient operation of dam reservoirs. This may be
achieved by having the reservoir drawn down by safe and timely releases so as to increase its
storage capacity to accommodate a forecasted incoming flood. By effecting these safe releases,
the need to release large volumes of water from the reservoir when flooding occurs is eliminated.
It must be noted here that large releases from flood-control dams cause a potential flooding
hazard downstream of the areas that are supposed to be protected by the dam from flooding.
Some of the flood forecasting techniques employed in various regions of the world include: i)
Flood Routing techniques; ii) Application of Inflow-Outflow correlation curves and iii)
Forecasting the Time of travel and duration of the peak.

11.7 Economic Aspects of Flood Control/Mitigation Projects

11.7.1 Combined Projects

"Combined projects" is a term used to refer to projects in which several flood-mitigation
techniques are concurrently used to alleviate flooding risks. Multi-Purpose projects are projects in
which flood mitigation is combined with other functions such as a navigation and generation of
hydroelectric power.
Since economic analysis has shown that a combination of procedures is more effective, reservoirs
are often combined with levees and channel works at key points along the stream. (Linsely and
Franzini, 1979)
For any scheme designed to prevent flood damage, the primary benefit should be the difference in
the expected damage throughout the life of the project with and without flood mitigation. Other
tangible benefits of flood mitigation are of two kinds.
a) Those arising from prevention of flood damage
b) Land enhancement from more intensive use of protected land

Conventional economic analysis methods use an assessment of whether the loss prevented is
sufficiently large enough to justify protection costs. This requires the determination of risk-stage-
damage relationships with hydrological flood frequency analyses as the starting points and a
frequency distribution curve of damage as the end product. The costs of potential flood damage
should include the estimated cost of restoration to pre-flood conditions and capitalized loss of
income.

The Primary benefits of a flood mitigation project may include,

a) Cost of replacing or repairing damaged property
b) Cost of evacuation, relief and rehabilitation of victims, and emergency flood protection
measures
c) Disruption of business and economic activities
d) Loss of crops, or cost of replanting crops

Secondary benefits from flood mitigation arise from activities that stem, use, or process products
and services directly affected by floods.
In general, the steps involved in the design of a flood mitigation project are,
a) Estimating the project design flood and flood characteristics of the area
b) Define the areas to be protected, and on the basis of a field survey, determine the flood
damages which can be expected at various stages.
c) Determine the possible methods of flood protection where reservoirs or floodways are
considered feasible selected sites and determine the physical characteristics of these sites.
d) Design the necessary facilities for each method of mitigation in sufficient detail to allow cost
estimates and an analysis of their effect on flood flows.
e) Select the facilities or combination of facilities that offer the desired protection at minimum
cost.
f) Compare the cost and benefit of the project to determine whether the project is economically
justifiable.
g) Prepare a detailed report outlining the possibilities explored, the protection recommended,
and the degree of protection that will be provided. (Linsely and Franzini,1979, Arora,2007)

Summary

The inundation of normally dry land by a stream overtopping its banks is known as flooding. It is
a natural periodic event in the history of any river. In this chapter, the different causes of
flooding, the World’s largest floods, flood destruction and flood related losses in different parts of
the World are discussed. Methods of mitigating floods include structural and non- structural
measures. Extensive structural methods act on the watershed and include increasing vegetation
cover, control of soil erosion, while intensive structural measures act on the river and include the
construction of levees, floodwalls and channel improvement, construction of reservoirs and the
diversion of flow. The non structural measures include flood plain management, flood proofing,
flood warning systems, insurance and forecasting. The combined use of the various methods is
quite economical and effective in mitigation measures.
References:

1. Abbot,L., Emergency Planning in Local Authorities, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil

Engineers, Municipal Engineer Volume 151. pp245-247, 2002. London UK
2. Alexander, W.J.R., Flood Hydrology in Southern Africa, The South African Committee on
Large Dams, 1990, Pretoria, South Africa.
3. Arora, S.O., Water Resources Hydropower and Irrigation Engineering, Standard Publishers
and Distributors, 1996, Dehli, India
4. BBC News online, 15th September 2007
5. Bowker, P., Making Properties more Resistant to Floods, Proceedings of the Institution of
Civil Engineers, Municipal Engineer Volume 151. pp197-206, 2002. London UK
6. Brogan, K., ICE Commission to Review Flood Defense Adequacy, New Civil Engineer
International March 2001, London UK.
7. Chow, V.T., Maidment, D.R., Mays, L.W., Applied Hydrology, McGraw-Hill, 1988, New
York, USA.
8. Flooding Risks and Reactions, Proceedings of the Joint Conference by the Chartered
Institution of Water and Environmental Management and Institution Civil of Engineers
2000, London, UK.
9. Fukami K., Inomata H., Hapuarachchi P., Oki R. ICHARM’s Research Strategy toward
Effective Implementation of Flood Forecasting and Warning Systems in Asia, Proceedings,
International Seminar on Managing Water Supply for Growing Demand Bangkok, Thailand,
UNESCO 2006, Jakarta, Indonesia.
10. Garg, S.K. Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering, Khanna Publishers, 1998, Dehli,
India.
11. Harvey, P.A.,Reed,R.A., Rapid Assessment and Priority Setting in Emergencies,
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Municipal Engineer Volume 151. pp249-
254, 2002. London UK
12. Institution of Civil Engineers, Flood Standards, 1978, London, UK.
13. Kelman, I., Spence,R., A Flood Failure Flow Chart for Buildings, Proceedings of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, Municipal Engineer Vol 156 pp207-213, 2003, London U.K.
14. Khatibi,R., Haywood, J.,The Role of Flood Forecasting and Warning in Sustainability in
Flood Defense, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Municipal Engineer
Volume 151. pp 313-320, 2002. London UK
15. Linsely, R.K., Franzini, J.B., Water Resources Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 1979, New York,
USA.
16. Milne, J., Better Flood Management: the Insurance Perspective, Proceedings of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, Municipal Engineer Volume 151. pp283-286, 2002. London
UK
17. New Vision, (23rd August,16th and 17th September 2007), New Vision Printing and
Publishing Company, 2007, Kampala, Uganda.
18. Rugumayo, A.I., Kayondo, D.K., Flood Analysis and Mitigation on Lake Albert Uganda.
Advances In Geo-Sciences Vol 4 Hydrological Sciences, World Scientific Publishing 2006,
Singapore.
19. Simonis, D.B., Flood Flows, Stages and Damages, Colorado State University Press, 1977,
Fort Collins, USA.
20. Tanaka S., Osti R., Tokioka T. Scope of Flood Hazard Mapping in Developing Countries
Proceedings, International Seminar on Managing Water Supply for Growing Demand,
Bangkok, Thailand, UNESCO 2006, Jakarta, Indonesia.
21. The Monitor (25th September 2007), Monitor Publications,2007, Kampala, Uganda.
22. The World’s Largest Floods, Past and Present: Their Causes and Magnitudes Circular 1254,
US Department of the Interior/ US Geological Survey, 2004, Virginia, USA.
23. Tucci, C.E.M., Urban Flood Management, the World Meteorological Organization and
Cap-Net International Network for Capacity Building in Integrated Water Resources
Management, 2007, Geneva, Switzerland.
24. U.S. Federal Highway Administration, Hydraulic Engineering Circular No. 17, 1981,
Washington DC, USA.

Further Reading

1. Cudworth, A.G. Flood Hydrology Manual, US Department of Interior, Bureau of

Reclamation, 1989, Washington USA.

2. Dingman, S.L., Physical Hydrology, Prentice Hall, 1994, New Jersey, USA

3. Serrano, E.S., Hydrology for Engineers, Geologists and Environmental Professionals, Hydro
Science Inc, 1997, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
4.
5. Watson, I.C., Burnett, A.D., Hydrology A Environmental Approach, Buchanan Books, 1993,
Florida, USA.

Questions
1. Discuss the major causes of flooding.
2. Gives examples of the damage that floods cause.
3. Compare structural and non structural flood mitigation measures.
4. There are two types of reservoirs. Mention and distinguish between them.
5. Discuss the following: i) flood proofing ii) flood failure in buildings.
6. Develop a flood emergency plan for a flood prone area of your choice.
12 FLOOD ROUTING

12.1 Introduction
Since ancient times, civilizations have always developed along rivers. This proximity to water
courses guaranteed man access to the sea coast, irrigation for crops, water supplies for urban
communities and more recently, power development and industrial water supply. Despite the
many advantages of being near rivers, there has always been the risk of flooding. In the past,
levees or flood banks were built along the main rivers to prevent inundation in the flood season.
In more recent times, storage reservoirs have been built as the engineering principles of dam
construction became better understood. Other flood mitigation measures like relief channels,
storage basins and channel improvements are continually being put in place, all over the world. It
is important for such works that estimates can be made of how the measures proposed, will affect
the behaviour of flood waves in rivers so that economic solutions can be found in particular cases.
Flood routing is the description that applies to this. It is a procedure through which the variation
of discharge with time at a point on a stream channel can be determined by consideration of
similar data for a point upstream. In other words it is a process that shows how a flood wave can
be reduced in magnitude and lengthened in time (attenuated) by the use of storage in the reach
between the two points.
In this chapter we shall concern ourselves with lumped flood routing, whereby the flow is a
function of time alone at a particular location. This is distinguished from distributed flood
routing, whereby the flood is calculated as a function of time and space throughout the system.
Routing by lumped system methods is called hydrologic routing and is based on the equation of
continuity, whereas routing by distributed system methods is called hydraulic routing and is based
on the St. Venant’s equation of motion of unsteady flow, or the dynamic wave equation. The
two main categories of lumped flood routing are reservoir routing and channel routing (Chow,
1988, Subramanya, 1994).

12.2 Hydrologic Routing Techniques

Hydrologic routing employs the use of continuity and a storage function. The continuity equation
is observed by most hydrologic flood routing methods and is expressed in the form inflow minus
outflow equals rate of change of storage.
dS
I (t ) − Q (t ) = (12.1)
dt

where I = inflow to the system

Q = discharge from the system
dS
dt = rate of change in the system storage with respect to time

The storage function is a simple relation between storage and discharge or between storage and
inflow and discharge as shown in Eqs 12.2.

S = f (Q )
(12.2)
S = f (Q , I )
If the flow in a channel were always uniform (surface parallel to the bed) or, less restrictively, if
the slope of the surface in a given channel reach were a function only of the outflow or inflow or
some constant combination of these, then the storage in the reach would be uniquely determined
by the discharge, the inflow or the prescribed combination of discharge and inflow. However, this
is not the case during the passage of a flood wave; for a given discharge at the lower end of a
river reach, the slope of the surface within the reach will be greater during the passage of the
discharge which is diminishing upstream i.e. after the passage of the peak.
Before the peak of the flood, I will be greater than Q and thereafter I will be less than Q .
Consequently, for the same downstream discharge Q , the inflow will be greater and the profile
higher before the peak discharge than they will be after it. If the storage in the river reach is
plotted as a function of Q , a hysteresis loop will result. In an attempt to allow for this effect,
storage is sometimes expressed as a function of Q and I , but this alone may be insufficient,
particularly where the discharge is varying rapidly along a river. In these circumstances the
storage cannot adequately be represented by any constant combination of the flows at either of
the reach in question (Nash, 1983).
translation

attenuation
I, Q

I-Q outflow
t

Inflow

Fig 0.10a Inflow and outflow hydrographs

∆S/∆t

t
Fig 0.1b The difference between inflow and outflow.
S

Fig 0.1c The mass curve for storage in a river reach or reservoir
When the water level in the reach is almost horizontal, as in a reservoir, this effect is less
pronounced and hence we distinguish between reservoir and channel routing according to
whether the storage is expressed as a function of the discharge alone or of the discharge and
inflow combined. Figs 12.2a to 12.2c illustrate the general principles of flood routing as applied
to a river reach or a reservoir (Wilson, 1996, Chadwick and Morfett, 1986).

12.3 Reservoir Routing

For a reservoir with a fixed control, the discharge is assumed to be determined by the reservoir in
accordance with the stage discharge relation for the outfall of the reservoir. From this, on the
assumption of a level surface in the reservoir, the relationship between reservoir storage and
discharge can easily be obtained as shown Fig 12.2. The numerical value of the storage may
contain an arbitrary constant reflecting the arbitrary datum above which the storage is measured.
This is unimportant as it is the derivative only of the storage discharge relationship with which we
are concerned. It is convenient, however, if the storage is expressed in units corresponding to the
units of discharge and time used to define the inflow and outflow, e.g. cumec days or the volume
corresponding to one cubic meter per second, flowing for one day. If the S , Q relationship is not
a simple algebraic one it may be expressed by a graphical plot to a suitable scale.
The relevant equations are 12.1 and 12.2
dS (t )
I (t ) − Q(t ) =
dt

S = f (Q )

Assuming that we are given an inflow hydrograph I (t ) and required to produce the corresponding
discharge hydrograph Q (t ) we can precede as follows:
Let this inflow hydrograph be given at equal intervals ∂ t (one hour, one day, etc.) as I1 , I2 , I3
…………. and assuming knowledge of Q1 the initial condition, we may write approximately;

∂t
[ I1 − Q1 + I 2 − Q2 ] = S2 − S1 (12.3)
2

Collecting known terms to the left, we have

∂t
( I1 + I 2 − Q2 ) + S1 = S2 + ∂t.Q2 /2……… (12.4)
2

The right hand side contains two unknowns but these are related. If, therefore, we prepare a curve
∂t
of S + ( )Q as a function of Q , as shown in Fig 12.3 we may enter the abscissa with the left
2
hand side of Equation (12.4) and obtain Q2 on the ordinate.

Having found Q2 the calculation can be taken over the second time interval to obtain Q3 and so
on.
For a single reservoir, the discharge will continue to increase, while the inflow exceeds the
discharge and hence the peak of the discharge will occur simultaneously with the point at which
the falling inflow equals the discharge. ∂t should therefore be taken sufficiently small to define
the inflow and discharge with sufficient accuracy. No other restriction is implied (Nash, 1983).

Fig 0.11 Reservoir Routing

S
δt
S+ Q
2

t Storage relationships
Fig 0.3 Discharge

Other methods commonly used are the Modified Puls Method and the Goodrich Method, which
are based on Equation 12.1 and can yield similar results to the above method.

Example 12.1
A reservoir has a constant plan area of 5.4 hectares and a spillway length of 13.2m. The
discharge, Q(m3 / s) over the spillway is given by the formula;

Q = 1.6BH 3 2 (12.5)
Where B is the length of the spillway and H is the head of water above the spillway crest, both
measured in metres, with values of H varying between 0 and 1m. After a period of dry weather
with no inflow to the reservoir, the water level is at crest level. Heavy rainfall then causes the
inflow to the reservoir to increase linearly from 0 to 12m3/s in 45 minutes to maintain this peak
flow value for 37.5 minutes and then to decrease linearly to 0 in a further period of 30 minutes.
a) Determine the values at 7.5 minute intervals of the outflow from the reservoir, and thus
determine the maximum water level in the reservoir.
b) Sketch the inflow and outflow hydrographs on one diagram and explain the significance of the
point where the two hydrographs intersect.

Solution a)
First determine the outflow storage relationships by assuming ~ 5 regular intervals of H, except
for the first one, where there is an extra value required (because of the closeness of the curves)
and obtain the values as shown in Table 12.1.

Table 0.2: Calculation of the Discharge Storage relationships

H(m) Discharge (Q)= 21.12H1.5 (m3/s) Storage (S) = AH (m3) S + Q dt/2(m3)

0.00 0.000 0 0
0.10 0.668 5400 5550
0.20 1.889 10800 11225
0.40 5.343 21600 22802
0.60 9.816 32400 34607
0.80 15.112 43200 46600
1.00 21.120 54,000 58752

where;
− A = reservoir area, H = head of water above spillway crest

− Inflow and Outflow are in m3/s, storage is in m3

− dt = time interval = 7.5 x 60 = 450 seconds, dt/2 = 225 seconds

− Graphs of Q vs S and Q vs S + Qdt/2 are then plotted on the same axes as shown in
Fig 12.4.

The Reservoir Routing Table 12.2 is then generated. The time intervals and inflows are given and
the initial outflow O1, hence storage S1, is assumed zero. Values of Q2 and S2 are obtained from
Fig 12.4 after reading off values of S + Qdt/2, which as shown in Equation 12.4, is equivalent to
the last column in Table 12.2. The process is repeated for the next time interval to obtain Q3 and
S3. In general, for any value in the last column of Table 12.2, the corresponding values of storage
S and outflow Q can be read off from Fig 12.4.
 Fig 0.4 Discharge storage relationships for Example 12.1

Table 0.3: Reservoir Routing

Time Inflow (I) I1 + I2 (I1 + I2 - Q1)dt/2 Q1 S1 (I1 + I2 - Q1)dt/2 + S1

(t) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s)
0.0 0 - - - - -
7.5 2 2 450.0 0 0 450
15.0 4 6 1339.6 0.046 444 1783.6
22.5 6 10 2205.6 0.197 1732 3937.6
30.0 8 14 3040.9 0.485 3748 6788.9
37.5 10 18 3837.1 0.946 6343 10180.1
45.0 12 22 4588.2 1.608 9376 13964.2
52.5 12 24 4840.9 2.485 12723 17563.9
60.0 12 24 4624.9 3.445 15879 20503.9
67.5 12 24 4429.3 4.314 18442 22871.3
75.0 12 24 4260.0 5.067 20499 24759.0
82.5 12 24 4117.8 5.699 22134 26251.8
90.0 9 21 3326.1 6.217 23422 26748.1
97.5 6 15 1936.5 6.393 23850 25786.5
105.0 3 9 662.9 6.054 23022 23684.9
112.5 0 3 -525.5 5.336 21204 20678.5
The maximum water level in the reservoir is estimated from the largest outflow in the routing
Table 12.2 and applying Equation 12.5 to obtain H. This gives a value of H = 0.451m. It can also
be estimated by dividing the maximum storage by the reservoir area = 23850/54000 = 0.442m.
The latter is less accurate however, because it involves more approximations, especially in
assuming the reservoir area as constant.

Inflow and Outflow Hydrographs

14

12

10
Flow (m3/s)

8 Inflow hydrograph
Outflow hydrograph
6

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Time (min)

Fig 0.5 The inflow and outflow hydrographs for Example 12.1

Solution b)

The inflow and outflow hydrographs are shown in Fig 12.5. The point where the two hydrographs
intersect is that where the outflow hydrograph has reached a peak, the inflow and outflow are
equal and there is maximum storage in the reservoir.

12.3.1 Lake Albert Flood Modeling

In the flood modeling of Lake Albert (Rugumayo, Kayondo, 2006) as a reservoir, in attenuating
flood peaks, the outlet was assumed to act like a broad crested weir and therefore the outflow
equation was taken as Q = 1.703 B H 3/2 . Some of the results of the simulation are shown in
Fig 12.6 for the year of minimum inflow (1974) and Fig 12.7, the average inflow (1969).
Both show a very good simulation of Lake Albert’s behaviour.
 Flo w Hyd r o g r ap h s fo r th e Ye ar o f M in im u m In flo w ,1974

6,000

5,000
Dis c harges (m3 /s )

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0
Mar-74

A pr-74

May -74

Jul-74

Sep-74

Oc t-74

Nov -74

Dec -74
Jan-74

Feb-74

Jun-74

A ug-74
Inf low
Routed Outf low Months
A c tual Outf low

Fig 0.6 Reservoir routing for the year of Minimum Inflow (1974)

Flo w Hy d r o g r a p h s f o r t h e Y e a r o f A v e r a g e In f lo w ,1 9 6 9

3 ,5 0 0

3 ,0 0 0

2 ,5 0 0
Dis c harges (m3 /s )

2 ,0 0 0

1 ,5 0 0

1 ,0 0 0

500

0
Jan-69

Feb-69

Oc t-69
Mar-69

A pr-69

Jun-69

Jul-69

Sep-69
May -69

A ug-69

Nov -69

Dec -69

In f lo w
Ro u te d O u tf lo w Mo n th s
A c tu a l O u tf lo w

Fig 0.7 Reservoir routing for the year of Average Inflow (1969)

12.4Channel Routing
In this case the storage volume is not a simple function of stage, and therefore solution of the
continuity equation is complex. These equations may be solved using the full equations of
gradually varied unsteady flow. However, as mentioned earlier there are simpler techniques
(hydrologic routing) which can be applied if previous inflow and outflow hydrographs have been
recorded. They are based on the Muskingum method (after McCarthy in 1938).

WEDGE STORAGE

I
y1

PRISM STORAGE
yo
Q

Fig 0.8 Storage in a channel during a flood wave

Channel storage may be considered to consist of two parts, prism and wedge storage, as shown in
the Fig 12.8. If we assume there is no sudden change of cross section with the reach, then
approximate expressions for inflow, outflow and storage are

I = ayin Q = ayion (12.6)

Where a and n are constants. Now;

Prism storage = byon (12.7)

Wedge storage = c( yim − yom ) (12.8)

Where b and c are constants. Therefore,

Total storage S = Prism storage + wedge storage

S = byo − cyom + cyim
m
(12.9)

Substituting for yi and yo and assuming m = n ,

b c c
S = Q− Q+ I (12.10)
a a a
or
b c c
S = ( I + Q − Q)
a b b
Taking K = b / a and x = c / b

S = K ( xI + Q − xQ ) (12.11)

= K [Q + x ( I − Q )]
where K is called the storage constant and has dimensions of time and x is a dimensionless
weighting factor between 0 and 0.5 (but normally between 0.2 and 0.4).

Equation (12.11) is the Muskingum Equation. It is an approximation, but has been used widely
with reasonable results. (Chadwick and Morfett, 1986).

This equation may be written in this form

S = K [ xI + (1 − x )Q ] (12.12)

With known values of K and x the outflow Q from the reach can be obtained by combining and
simplifying equation,

I1 + I 2 Q1 + Q2
t− t = S2 − S1 (12.13)
2 2

and

I1 + I 2 S2 − S1 Q1 + Q2
= + (12.14)
2 t 2

Substituting equation (12.12) into equation (12.14) gives:

I1 + I 2 K [ x( I 2 − I1 ) + (1 − x)(Q2 − Q1 ) Q1 + Q2
= +
2 t 2

collecting the like terms together gives

Kx Kx (1 − x) (1 − x)
• I1 (0.5 + ) = I 2 (−0.5 + ) + Q1 (0.5 − K ) + Q2 (0.5 + K )
t t t t

• I1(0.5t + Kx) = I2 (−0.5 + Kx) + Q1(0.5 − K(1− x) + Q2 (0.5t + K(1− x))

• Q2 (0.5t + Kx) = I1(0.5t + Kx) + I2 (0.5t − Kx) + Q1(−0.5t + K − Kx)

This equation can be written as:

Q2 = Co I2 + C1I1 + C2Q1 (12.15)

Is obtained, where

− Kx + 0.5t Kx + 0.5t K − Kx − 0.5t

Co = C1 = C2 = (12.16)
K − Kx + 0.5t K − Kx + 0.5t K − Kx + 0.5t
Where t = routing period, which should be taken as between 1/3 and 1/4 of the flood wave travel
time recorded, from a previously recorded event. A value for x is assumed and a plot of S is
drawn, derived from the known inflows and outflows against (O + x ( I − O)) . If the assumed
value of x is correct, then a straight-line plot with gradient K should result if this is not the case,
a new value of x is chosen and the procedure repeated. The coefficients C0, C1 and C2 in
Equation 12.16 are known as the Muskingum Coefficients and should add up to unity.

Alternatively, the following theoretical/graphical method may be used. From Equation (12.12)

dS dI dQ
= Kx. + K (1 − x) (12.17)
dt dt dt

at the point, where the inflow and outflow hydrographs intersect, I is equal to Q and storage
within the valley attains its maximum value, thus dS dt = 0 . Consequently, the ratio of the
tangents to both hydrographs at the point of their intersection is:

dI dQ
= ( x − 1) / x (12.18)
dt dt

After obtaining x according to Equation 12.18 normally a first approximation, K is determined

as mentioned above (Dake, 1983).

This graphical technique is quite demanding and Cunge (1969) presented a simpler approach,
known as the Muskingum-Cunge method. He demonstrated that K is approximately equal to the
time to travel of the flood wave i.e.

K ≈ ΔL c (12.19)

Where Δ L is the length of the river reach and c is the flood wave celerity.
Qp
x ≈ 0.5 − (12.20)
2So BcΔL

where Qp is the mean flood peak and B is the mean surface width of the channel.
Using these equations allows rapid calculation of K and x and the Muskingum-Cunge method
may also be applied to rivers without recorded outflow hydrographs.

In both the Muskingum and Muskingum Cunge procedures, the assumption is that there is no
lateral flow to the river reach between the upstream and downstream gauging stations. This
implies that the routing procedures can only be applied to short sections, which terminate at
tributaries, or tributary inflows should be added to main channel flow term. Subsequently, a
second modified Muskingham method was developed (O’Donnell, 1985) that takes into account
lateral inflow. It has the further advantage that i) it replaces the trial and error method for the
estimation of K and x parameters by a numerical best fit technique and ii) because it treats the
river as a whole, it avoids multiple routings over many sub reaches. This approach assumes that
the total rate of lateral inflow is proportional to the upstream inflow rate. The proportionality
constant, α, is assumed constant for any one event and takes different values for different events.
The three coefficients C0, C1 and C2 can be related to K, x and α and vice versa.
Example 12.2 (after Dake, 1983)
Agricultural land in a valley is to be protected against floods; the hydrograph for a possible dam
site located 36hrs crest travel time, upstream is given. If the required flood reduction at the
farmland is 40%, determine the minimum storage capacity due to the dam. Take x = 0.15. The
layout of the site is shown in Fig 12.9.

I Q

B
A
Farmland

Fig 0.9 Layout of Example 12.2

Solution:
i. First calculate the subsequent outflow, Q at the farmland without the dam
ii. The resultant peak flood at the farm should be reduced by 40%
iii. The excess flow must then be stored by the dam.

Given the inflow hydrograph at A, K = 36hrs (Travel time). The inflow series has a time step of
dt = 12hr. The routing coefficients are calculated using Equation 12.16 as follows:

− Kx + 0.5t −36 × 0.15 + 0.5 ×12

Co = = = 0.02
K − Kx + 0.5t 36 − 36 × 0.15 + 0.5 ×12

Kx + 0.5t 36 × 0.15 + 0.5 ×12

C1 = = = 0.31
K − Kx + 0.5t 36 − 36 × 0.15 + 0.5 ×12

K − Kx − 0.5t 36 − 36 × 0.15 − 0.5 ×12

C2 = = = 0.67
K − Kx + 0.5t 36 − 36 × 0.15 + 0.5 ×12

Check
C0 + C1 + C2 = 0.02 + 0.31 + 0.67 = 1

The coefficients are checked whether they add to unity and then they are applied in the
Muskingum equation. The outflows (without the dam) are calculated as shown in Table 12.3. It
is assumed that initially, the inflow, I is equal to the outflow, Q = 42m3/s. The routed outflow is
shown in the last column. Fig 12.10 shows the plots of the inflow and the routed outflow
hydrographs.

Q2 = Co I 2 + C1 I1 + C2Q1

We obtain a peak outflow after routing of 231.1 m3/s. It is required to reduce this flow by 40%
(to 138.7 m3/s). The excess flow (shaded area) should be stored by the dam. The reservoir
capacity of this dam is approximately 21 x 106 m3.

Table 0.4 Muskingham Routing

Hour I (m3/s) Co I2 (m3/s) C1 Ii (m3/s) C2 Qi (m3/s) Q2 (m3/s)

0 42 42.0
12 45 0.7 13.1 28.2 42.0
24 88 1.8 14.0 28.1 43.9
36 272 5.4 27.3 29.4 62.1
48 342 5.6 84.7 41.2 131.5
60 288 4.7 106.5 88.4 199.6
72 240 3.9 89.7 134.2 227.8
84 198 3.2 74.8 153.1 231.1
96 162 2.7 61.7 155.3 219.7
108 133 2.2 50.5 147.6 200.3
120 110 1.8 41.4 134.6 177.8
132 90 1.5 34.3 119.5 155.3
144 79 1.3 28.0 104.4 133.7
156 68 1.1 24.6 89.9 115.6
168 61 1.0 21.2 77.7 99.9
180 56 0.9 19.0 67.1 87.0
192 54 0.9 17.4 58.5 76.8
204 51 0.8 16.8 51.6 69.3
216 48 0.8 15.9 46.6 63.2
228 45 0.7 15.0 42.5 58.2
240 42 0.7 14.0 39.1 53.8
 400

342 Inflow
350
Outflow without the dam
300
Discharge (m /s)

250 231.1
3

200
Stored volume
150
138.7
100

50

0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250
Time(hr)

Fig 0.10 Inflow and outflow hydrographs outflow

Example 12.3
Table 12.4 gives the inflow and outflow hydrographs measured for a given river reach. Determine
the values the storage constant, K and the weighing factor x of the Muskinghum routing model
for this river

Table 0.5 Inflow and Outflow Hydrographs for a River Reach

Time (h) Inflow Outflow (m3/s) Time (h) Inflow (m3/s) Outflow (m3/s)
(m3/s)
1 50 50 11 750 731
2 100 53 12 680 734
3 200 79 13 590 707
4 325 136 14 500 653
5 450 221 15 420 586
6 600 324 16 350 514
7 700 443 17 300 444
8 780 553 18 250 382
9 790 646 19 225 323
10 775 704 20 200 284
 Solution:
To Obtain Estimates of x and K
The general Muskingum storage equation is given as S = K [ xI + (1 − x )Q] . To obtain
estimations of x and K, the values of ΔS are plotted against the corresponding K [ xI + (1 − x ) Q ]
values and the value of x is determined by trial and error until the plotted graph gives
approximately a straight. The computations of ΔS and K [ xI + (1 − x ) Q ] are performed as shown
in the Table 12.5.

Table 0.6 Determination of K and x values of the Muskingum equation

Inflow, Outflow, (I1+I2)/ (Q1+Q2)/ [x.I + (1-

Time I Q 2 2 S = [(I1+I2)/2 -(Q1+Q2)/2]dt x)Q]
(h) (m3/s) (m3/s) (m3/s) [m3/s] (m3) (m3)
1 50 50 0 50
2 100 53 75 51.5 84600 60.05
3 200 79 150 66 387000 97.15
4 325 136 262.5 107.5 945000 164.35
5 450 221 387.5 178.5 1697400 255.35
6 600 324 525 272.5 2606400 365.4
7 700 443 650 383.5 3565800 481.55
8 780 553 740 498 4437000 587.05
9 790 646 785 599.5 5104800 667.6
10 775 704 782.5 675 5491800 714.65
11 750 731 762.5 717.5 5653800 733.85
12 680 734 715 732.5 5590800 725.9
13 590 707 635 720.5 5283000 689.45
14 500 653 545 680 4797000 630.05
15 420 586 460 619.5 4222800 561.1
16 350 514 385 550 3628800 489.4
17 300 444 325 479 3074400 422.4
18 250 382 275 413 2577600 362.2
19 225 323 237.5 352.5 2163600 308.3
20 200 284 212.5 303.5 1836000 271.4

Three trials were made with x = 0.3, 0.2 and 0.15 as shown in Fig.12.11. The third trial x = 0.15
was selected since it approximates a straight line.
Therefore X = 0.15. The value of K is the slope of the line which is approximately 8264 sec =
2.3hrs.
 6000

5000

Storage, Sx 1000 (m )
3 4000

3000

2000

1000 x= 0.3

0
0 200 400 600 800
6000

5000
Storage, Sx 1000 (m )
3

4000

3000

2000

1000 x= 0.2

0
0 200 400 600 800

6000

5000
Storage, Sx 1000 (m)
3

4000

3000

2000

1000 x= 0.15

0
0 200 400 600 800
[x.I+(1-x)Q], (m3/s)

Fig 0.11 Determination of K and x values of the Muskingum Equation

12.5The Runge-Kutta Method
The reservoir routing method described in Section 12.2 is mainly graphical. A more efficient
modification is the use of the Runge-Kutta methods. The most accurate being the standard
Fourth-Order Runge-Kutta method (Carnahan, 1969). This is briefly described below:

From the continuity equation

dS dH
= I (t ) − Q( H ) = A( H ) (12.21)
dt dt

and

dH
= I (t ) − Q( H ) = F (t , H ) (12.22)
dt

Where S is the storage at a water surface elevation H in the reservoir,

A is the area of the reservoir at elevation H and
Q is the outflow from the reservoir.

Using initial conditions for time, inflow, outflow, elevation and storage and routing in time steps
of ∆t, the elevation H at the (i+1)th step is given by
1
H i +1 = H i + ( K1 + 2 K 2 + 2 K3 + K4 )Δt (12.23)
6

Where K1 = F (ti, Hi )
K2 = F(ti +Δt 2, Hi +1 2 K1Δt)
K3 = F(ti +Δt 2, Hi +1 2 K2Δt)
K4 = F(ti +Δt 2, Hi + K3Δt)

Beginning with initial conditions and knowing Q vs. H and A vs H , a hydrograph may be
routed by selecting Δt at any time t = (to + iΔt) the value of Hi and the coefficients
K1, K2 , K3, K4 are determined by repeated evaluation of the function F (t , H ) . With the values
of H i.e. H (t ) at various intervals, Q ( H ) and S ( H ) can be calculated.

Summary
Despite the many advantages of being near rivers, there has always been the risk of flooding. In
the past, levees or flood banks were built along the main rivers to prevent inundation in the flood
season. In more recent times, storage reservoirs have been built as the engineering principles of
dam construction became better understood. In order to design them appropriately, it is necessary
to be able to predict the impact of the storage on a flood wave. To do this it is necessary to
employ the techniques of reservoir flood routing and channel routing, which show how the peak
of a flood is attenuated and delayed for a reservoir and channel respectively. These techniques are
discussed together with examples and recent studies.

References
1. Carnahan, B.,Luther, H.A.,Wilkes,J.O., Applied Numerical Methods, Wiley, 1969, New
York, USA.

2. Chadwick, A., Morfett ,J., Hydraulics in Civil Engineering, Chapman and Hall, 1986,
London, UK

3. Chow, V.T., Maidment, D.R., Mays, L.W., Applied Hydrology, McGraw-Hill, 1988, New
York , USA.
4. Cunge, J.A., On the Subject of a Flood Propagation Method, Journal of Hydraulics
Research, IAHR, Vol 7, 1969, pp205-230. London, UK.

5. Dake, J.M.K., Essentials of Engineering Hydraulics, Macmillan, 1984, London, UK.

6. Nash, J.E. Deterministic Hydrology, University College Galway, 1983, Republic of Ireland.

7. O’ Donnell, T., A Direct Three Parameter Muskingham Procedure incorporating Lateral

Flow, Journal of Hydrological Sciences, 1985,30,4, pp479-496.

8. Rugumayo, A.I., Kayondo,D.K., Flood Analysis and Mitigation on Lake Albert Uganda.
Advances In Geo-Sciences Vol 4 Hydrological Sciences, World Scientific Publishing 2006,
Singapore.

9. Subramanya, K., Engineering Hydrology, Second Edition, Tata McGraw Hill, 1994, New
Delhi, India.

10. Wilson, E.M., Engineering Hydrology, 4th Edition, Macmillan, 1996.London, UK.

Further Reading
1. Alexander, W.J.R., Flood Hydrology in Southern Africa, The South African Committee on
Large Dams, 1990, Pretoria, South Africa.

2. Butler,D., Davies,J.W.,Urban Drainage, E& FN Spon,2000, London, UK

3. Cudworth, A.G.,Flood Hydrology Manual, US Department of Interior, Bureau of

Reclamation, Washington USA

4. Dingman, S.L., Physical Hydrology, Prentice Hall, 1994, New Jersey, USA.

5. Featherstone, R.E., Nalluri, C., Civil Engineering Hydraulics, Essential Theory and
Examples, 1982, Granada Publishing, London, UK.

6. Serrano E.S., Hydrology for Engineers, Geologists and Environmental Professionals, Hydro
Science Inc, 1997, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Questions
1. A reservoir has a constant plan area of 5.56 x 106m2. Discharge from the reservoir takes
place over a spillway the characteristic of which is Q= 135H3/2. Storm run-off entering
the reservoir is estimated at the following figures.

Time (h) 0 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
3
Run-off (m /s) 0 113 170 283 226 170 113 57.5 0

It is noted that at 12 h the head H over the spillway is 0.813m and the reservoir surface level
is still rising. Estimate how much further the level will rise. Sketch the general shape of the
outflow hydrograph and explain what is meant by the lag effect of the reservoir.

2. A flood entering a reservoir of area 0.13km2 has the following hydrograph:

Time (h) 0 2 4 6 10 14 20 30
Flow (m3/s) 0 14.1 42.5 85.0 70.8 42.5 14.1 0

The dam of the reservoir has a spillway 61m long (coefficient 2.21m1/2/s), and a culvert (ground
sluice) with its centre line 30.5m below crest level. At time zero the water level in the reservoir
was just at crest level.

Estimate

(a) the maximum discharge through the culvert, if the water is never to rise more
than 30.5cm above the crest;

(b) the size of the culvert, assuming it acts as a simple orifice, Cd = 0.64;

(c) The period during which the culvert is flowing;

3. Describe the continuity function of hydrolic routing and define the terms in the
equation

4. Derive the Muskingum equation for flood routing in a river basin. Explain clearly the
significance of the factors x and K and indicate how they can be estimated.

The inflow hydrograph for a reach of a river is given below. Find the peak of the outflow
hydrograph and its time of occurrence if K = 1.5 days and x = 0.25 for the reach. Plot the
complete inflow and outflow hydrographs for the given flood. Assume that the outflow
from the reach is equal to the inflow at the start of the flood.
Date Hour Inflow(m3/s)
12 July 1200 52
13 July 0600 52
1200 55
1800 66
14 July 2400 100
0600 161
1200 256
1800 362
15 July 2400 343
0600 321
1200 299
1800 276
16 July 2400 249
0600 224
1200 209
1800 198
17 July 2400 176
1200 142
18 July 2400 121
1200 79
2400 73

5. The table below gives the inflow and outflow hydrographs for a reach of a river. Determine
the Muskingum factor K for the reach if x has been estimated fairly accurately to be 0.20. How
does your value compare with the time lag between inflow and outflow peaks?

Date Hour Inflow(m3/s) Outflow(m3/s)

17 September 0600 72 72.
1200 75 72
1800 87 71
2400 118 70
18 September 0600 177 73
1200 302 78
1800 382 113
2400 370 168
19 September 0600 344 211
1200 319 238
1800 295 257
2400 271 267
20 September 0600 242 271
1200 228 267
1800 212 260
2400 191 252
21 September 1200 163 230