Flood risk assessment of the European road network
<p>River floods pose a significant threat to road transport infrastructure in Europe. This study presents a high-resolution object-based continental-scale assessment of direct flood risk of the European road network for the present climate, using high-resolution exposure data from OpenStreetMa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2021-03-01
|
| Series: | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/21/1011/2021/nhess-21-1011-2021.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>River floods pose a significant threat to road transport infrastructure in
Europe. This study presents a high-resolution object-based continental-scale
assessment of direct flood risk of the European road network for the present
climate, using high-resolution exposure data from OpenStreetMap. A new set
of road-specific damage functions is developed. The expected annual direct
damage from large river floods to road infrastructure in Europe is EUR 230 million per year. Compared to grid-based approaches, the object-based
approach is more precise and provides more action perspective for road
owners because it calculates damage directly for individual road segments
while accounting for segment-specific attributes. This enables the
identification of European hotspots, such as roads in the Alps and along the
Sava River. A first comparison to a reference case shows that the new
object-based method computes realistic damage estimates, paving the way for
targeted risk reduction strategies.</p> |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1561-8633 1684-9981 |