Levees, reservoirs and floodplain zoning reduce damage.
Structural measures (levees, dams, diversions, channel improvements) and non-structural measures (zoning, warning systems, insurance, floodproofing). Risk-based design chooses protection level by cost-benefit analysis; managed retreat and nature-based solutions are increasingly used.
The Thames Barrier protects London from tidal surges.
Flood management reduces the damage and risk to people and property, so it combines engineering works with planning controls.
Levees, reservoirs and floodplain zoning reduce damage.
Flood management reduces the damage and risk to people and property, so it combines engineering works with planning controls.
An embankment along a river or coast that holds back high water and protects the land behind it.
It keeps people and assets away from the most dangerous areas, which reduces risk without relying only on defences.
Typical applications include building a levee to protect a town next to a river, creating a flood storage reservoir upstream of a city and restricting housing development in a floodplain through zoning.
Study "Irrigation engineering" first (topic 89 of 112 in Civil & Structural). It covers the groundwork this topic builds on.
Flood frequency analysis. Inundation mapping. Residual risk.
The Thames Barrier protects London from tidal surges.
The next topic is "Coastal and harbour engineering", which builds directly on this one.
It is classed as Advanced in Civil & Structural (topic 90 of 112). It is an advanced topic. It assumes you are comfortable with the intermediate topics in Civil & Structural.
Want to practise? Open the interactive course for quick checks, quizzes, simulations and progress tracking.