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Recent Advances in Flood Risk Assessment and Management
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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: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 10087

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiaolei Zhang

E-Mail Website
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
Dr. Xiao Liu

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 Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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 (6 papers)

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Research

5348 KB  
Article
A Semi-Automated Framework for Flood Ontology Construction with an Application in Risk Communication
by Shenglin Li, Caleb Erickson, Michal Zajac, Xiaoming Guo, Qiuhua Duan and Jiaqi Gong
Water 2025, 17(19), 2801; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17192801 - 23 Sep 2025
Abstract
Flash floods are increasingly frequent and severe, yet standard risk communication messages are often too generic and lack actionable guidance, causing them to be ignored. This research aims to enhance flood risk communication by first, developing a robust flood ontology using a novel [...] Read more.
Flash floods are increasingly frequent and severe, yet standard risk communication messages are often too generic and lack actionable guidance, causing them to be ignored. This research aims to enhance flood risk communication by first, developing a robust flood ontology using a novel semi-automated approach, and second, demonstrating its potential as a semantic foundation for translating complex data into clear, personalized public alerts. We introduce a semi-automated, human-in-the-loop ontology engineering strategy that integrates expert-defined schemas with Large Language Model (LLM)-driven expansion and refinement from authoritative sources. Evaluation results are twofold: (1) Technical metrics confirm our LLM-constructed ontology achieves superior relationship richness and expressiveness compared with existing disaster ontologies. (2) A proof-of-concept case study demonstrates the ontology’s potential by showing how its specific classes and relations (e.g., `neededForElderly’ relation linking the class `SpecialConsideration’ to `ElderlyCommunityMember’) can be used to generate targeted advice like “check on elderly neighbors”, transforming a generic alert into a clear and actionable message. Consequently, this research delivers two key contributions: a replicable and domain-adaptable methodology for semi-automated ontology construction and a practical demonstration of how such an ontology can bridge the critical gap between flood data and public understanding, empowering communities to respond more effectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Flood Risk Assessment and Management)
25 pages, 12166 KB  
Article
Physical Flood Vulnerability Assessment in a GIS Environment Using Morphometric Parameters: A Case Study from Volos, Greece
by Christos Rodopoulos, Giannis Saitis and Niki Evelpidou
Water 2025, 17(16), 2449; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17162449 - 19 Aug 2025
Viewed by 1029
Abstract
This study assesses and maps the physical flood vulnerability within the Xerias, Krafsidonas, and Anavros ungauged catchments in Volos, Thessaly, Greece, using a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) integrated with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Six factors influencing flood dynamics [...] Read more.
This study assesses and maps the physical flood vulnerability within the Xerias, Krafsidonas, and Anavros ungauged catchments in Volos, Thessaly, Greece, using a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) integrated with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Six factors influencing flood dynamics were selected including slope, flow accumulation, geology, land use/cover, flood history and burned areas. The factors were weighted using the AHP based on their relative influence in flood occurrence. Physical flood vulnerability was assessed utilizing the Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) method and visualized through thematic flood-vulnerability maps. The analysis indicates that the southwestern and central-southern parts of the study area, which are highly urbanized and industrialized, exhibit the highest physical flood-vulnerability. Specifically, 32.76% of the Xerias catchment, 41.16% of the Krafsidonas catchment, and 34.71% of the Anavros catchment exhibit high to very high flood vulnerability. On the other hand, mountainous areas with steep slopes, permeable lithology, and dense forests exhibit low to very low physical flood vulnerability. The method’s accuracy was verified through sensitivity analysis and comparison with national flood-risk data for the study area. The results emphasize the physical vulnerability of Volos to flooding and the necessity for targeted flood mitigation measures, demonstrating the value of GIS in flood risk management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Flood Risk Assessment and Management)
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27 pages, 48299 KB  
Article
An Extensive Italian Database of River Embankment Breaches and Damages
by Michela Marchi, Ilaria Bertolini, Laura Tonni, Luca Morreale, Andrea Colombo, Tommaso Simonelli and Guido Gottardi
Water 2025, 17(15), 2202; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17152202 - 23 Jul 2025
Viewed by 691
Abstract
River embankments are critical flood defense structures, stretching for thousands of kilometers across alluvial plains. They often originated as natural levees resulting from overbank flows and were later enlarged using locally available soils yet rarely designed according to modern engineering standards. Substantially under-characterized, [...] Read more.
River embankments are critical flood defense structures, stretching for thousands of kilometers across alluvial plains. They often originated as natural levees resulting from overbank flows and were later enlarged using locally available soils yet rarely designed according to modern engineering standards. Substantially under-characterized, their performance to extreme events provides an invaluable opportunity to highlight their vulnerability and then to improve monitoring, management, and reinforcement strategies. In May 2023, two extreme meteorological events hit the Emilia-Romagna region in rapid succession, causing numerous breaches along river embankments and therefore widespread flooding of cities and territories. These were followed by two additional intense events in September and October 2024, marking an unprecedented frequency of extreme precipitation episodes in the history of the region. This study presents the methodology adopted to create a regional database of 66 major breaches and damages that occurred during May 2023 extensive floods. The database integrates multi-source information, including field surveys; remote sensing data; and eyewitness documentation collected before, during, and after the events. Preliminary interpretation enabled the identification of the most likely failure mechanisms—primarily external erosion, internal erosion, and slope instability—often acting in combination. The database, unprecedented in Italy and with few parallels worldwide, also supported a statistical analysis of breach widths in relation to failure mechanisms, crucial for improving flood hazard models, which often rely on generalized assumptions about breach development. By offering insights into the real-scale behavior of a regional river defense system, the dataset provides an important tool to support river embankments risk assessment and future resilience strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Flood Risk Assessment and Management)
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21 pages, 8341 KB  
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
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1007
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 KB  
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 721
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 KB  
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 5867
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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