RESILIENCE OF TERRITORIES TO EXTREME STREAM FLOODING

Abstract

The risks associated with climate change represent a challenge to the resilience of the territories, in particular those that result from extreme hydrological phenomena or potential sea level rising, leading to flooding.

While inevitable natural phenomenon, the occurrence of floods can threaten the safety of persons, goods and the environment, so it is essential to reduce the associated risks and consequences and to alleviate the negative effects through mitigating measures.

This framework leads to the necessity of evaluation the effects of flooding, the zoning of endangered lands and the quantification of risks. These aspects act as indicators of potential consequences associated with different flood scenarios, so it is mandatory to establish flood risk management plans, which define protection levels and identify integrated prevention measures, without neglecting environmental issues, namely soil protection, land use planning and nature conservation.

In the water resources planning and territorial management tools, namely the Municipal Master Plans it is critical the delimitation and zoning of areas prone to flooding, corresponding to different recurrence rates, as the essential basis to the planning process of land use, to enhance the resilience of the territories. As case study, is presented the the delimitation of flooding areas in Almeirim municipality.