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Recent Advances in Flood Risk Assessment and Management

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 2678

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Interests: flash flood disaster risk identification and analysis; data mining and risk analysis; flash flood disaster monitoring and early warning; system development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Interests: flash flood disaster assessment; flood risk management; drought assessment; climate change; extreme weather; hydrological uncertainty research

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Flood risk management is increasingly critical due to the rising frequency and severity of floods driven by climate change, urbanization, and environmental degradation. Accurate risk assessment and effective management strategies are essential to minimize the impacts on infrastructure, ecosystems, and vulnerable communities. This Special Issue aims to present recent advances in methodologies and tools for flood risk assessment and management. We welcome research articles, case studies, and reviews on hydrological and hydraulic modeling, climate change impacts, flood risk mapping, protection system design, early warning systems, and community-based adaptation strategies. Studies addressing the socioeconomic dimensions of flood resilience and practical solutions for enhancing flood management are particularly encouraged. This Special Issue invites papers on the following topics:

  • Hydrological and hydraulic modeling for flood risk assessment.
  • Impact of climate change on flood frequency and severity.
  • Flood risk mapping and geospatial analysis.
  • Design and assessment of flood protection infrastructure.
  • Early warning systems and flood forecasting models.
  • Community-based flood risk management and adaptation strategies.
  • Socioeconomic impacts and resilience building in flood-prone areas.
  • Case studies on flood risk management in urban and rural environments.

This Special Issue seeks to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to advance flood risk assessment and management knowledge and practice.

Dr. Xiaolei Zhang
Dr. Xiao Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • flood risk assessment
  • hydraulic and hydrological modeling
  • climate change and flood frequency
  • flood risk mapping
  • flood protection infrastructure
  • early warning systems
  • socioeconomic impacts of flooding
  • community-based flood management
  • flood resilience

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 8341 KiB  
Article
Flood Risk Management-Level Analysis of Subway Station Spaces
by Yan Li, Xinxin Xu, Shaoxuan Hou, Xin Dang, Zhuolun Li and Yongwei Gong
Water 2025, 17(7), 1084; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17071084 - 5 Apr 2025
Viewed by 305
Abstract
In recent years, heavy rainfall-induced flood incidents have occurred frequently in subway stations worldwide. Flooding in complex underground facilities, such as subway stations, can result in significant casualties and property damage. Therefore, it is crucial to determine flood risk management levels within subway [...] Read more.
In recent years, heavy rainfall-induced flood incidents have occurred frequently in subway stations worldwide. Flooding in complex underground facilities, such as subway stations, can result in significant casualties and property damage. Therefore, it is crucial to determine flood risk management levels within subway stations. This study proposes a comprehensive flood management-level evaluation method based on spatial network importance, spatial functional importance, and flood risk, focusing on the relationship between the complex spatial structure of subway stations and flood risk. The research integrates complex network theory and hydrodynamic simulation techniques to construct a spatial network model within subway stations, assessing the importance index of each subspace in the network. Simultaneously, the spatial functional importance index is calculated through quantitative analysis of different subspace functions. Additionally, the Volume of Fluid (VOF) model is used to simulate flood distribution, obtaining the flood risk index for each subspace. By applying the entropy weight method for comprehensive analysis, the flood risk management levels of various areas within the subway station are determined. The results indicate that among all evaluation indicators, the importance of the subway network is assigned the highest weight, accounting for 50%. Specifically, the spatial network importance of the S6 station hall, S11 station hall, and the connecting corridors between S1–S6 and S11–S6 exceeds 0.48, with these areas constituting 75% of the total subway station space. This highlights their central role in crowd flow and spatial connectivity. The study found that areas with a flood risk management level of five occupy 11.43% of the total space, indicating that prioritizing the management and flood prevention measures in critical areas is essential for enhancing the subway station’s resilience. This study provides both theoretical support and practical references for the risk management of subway station spaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Flood Risk Assessment and Management)
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17 pages, 28900 KiB  
Article
Research on the Audit Rules for National Mountain Flood Disaster Survey and Evaluation Results of Key Towns and Villages
by Min Xie, Shuwen Qi, Yanhong Dou and Xiaolei Zhang
Water 2025, 17(6), 773; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17060773 - 7 Mar 2025
Viewed by 445
Abstract
In recent years, there have been frequent extreme weather events that defy traditional understanding. Specifically, mountain flood disasters can cause significant loss of life due to their sudden onset and destructive power. The 7.21 flood event in Xingyang, Zhengzhou, China, recorded a maximum [...] Read more.
In recent years, there have been frequent extreme weather events that defy traditional understanding. Specifically, mountain flood disasters can cause significant loss of life due to their sudden onset and destructive power. The 7.21 flood event in Xingyang, Zhengzhou, China, recorded a maximum 6 h precipitation of 240.5 mm in the Suo River basin, corresponding to a 500-year return period, and causing fatalities and substantial damage. The central government of China has launched supplementary mountain flood disaster surveys and evaluations involving key towns and villages, following an initial round of surveys in riverside villages, to improve foresight and response capabilities for mountain flood disaster risks under extreme conditions. This paper introduces the contents of the national mountain flood disaster surveys and evaluations of key towns and villages, elaborating on the principles, content, and rules for auditing the national survey and evaluation results. This paper innovatively proposes professional audit criteria, such as early warning indicators, monitoring facility correlations, and hazard zoning, based on a formal audit of the data quality. The implementation of professional audit criteria improved the data accuracy by 85% and reduced false alarms by 40%, enhancing the overall effectiveness of mountain flood disaster prevention. The analysis of the audit results suggests that the audit rules for the survey and evaluation results of key towns are scientific, reasonable, and effective, achieving the expected goals of data quality control. This approach can effectively enhance the practical value of the survey and evaluation outcomes for key towns, laying a solid data foundation for transforming flood disaster prevention from merely “existing” to “optimal”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Flood Risk Assessment and Management)
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24 pages, 1031 KiB  
Article
Flood Management Framework for Local Government at Shah Alam, Malaysia
by Haziq Sarhan Rosmadi, Minhaz Farid Ahmed, Neyara Radwan, Mazlin Bin Mokhtar, Chen Kim Lim, Bijay Halder, Miklas Scholz, Fahad Alshehri and Chaitanya Baliram Pande
Water 2025, 17(4), 513; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17040513 - 11 Feb 2025
Viewed by 1910
Abstract
Flood disasters are common events in Malaysia, particularly during the monsoon seasons. Hence, disaster management in Malaysia is based on the framework following “Directive 20” by the National Security Council (MKN). This study gathered qualitative information in Shah Alam Municipality through informal interviews [...] Read more.
Flood disasters are common events in Malaysia, particularly during the monsoon seasons. Hence, disaster management in Malaysia is based on the framework following “Directive 20” by the National Security Council (MKN). This study gathered qualitative information in Shah Alam Municipality through informal interviews with 20 informants following the quadruple-helix multi-stakeholders model in 2023 for flood disaster management (FDM). Thematic analysis of the qualitative information was conducted following the four main priority of action themes of the Sendai Framework for United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) using the Taguette software. This study found coordination and inter-agency data sharing are two major issues in Shah Alam that require immediate attention for FDM. Thus, this study suggests improving district-level flood management guidelines, especially the involvement of the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA). The NADMA should have a close look at the flood management plan, which acts as Malaysia’s main disaster management coordinator, as they are usually the first agency on the scene when a disaster occurs. Hence, to prevent and lessen flood disaster impact, disaster risk preparedness and individual management through customized training are crucial in combining non-structural and structural measures for FDM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Flood Risk Assessment and Management)
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