Flood Protection: Why solutions are more important than ever

Engineers play an important role in understanding climate change and in creating the necessary infrastructure to help address its consequences. That is why sustainability is a core value of Consortis.

According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR):

"Climate-related disasters accounted for 91% of all recorded disasters between 1998 and 2017."

One of the consequences of climate change is the increased risk of flooding.

The exact relationship between the two is not fully understood, as the risk of flooding also depends on socio-economic factors, to a large extent.

Floods across the continent vary and will continue, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA), as higher temperatures can lead to more intense rainfall and longer periods of drought. This means that most parts of Europe will experience up to 35% more intense rains in winter, while the summers will be drier for areas in southern Europe, where our country is located.

Smart flood protection must include sustainability. All flood management experts should ask themselves, the following question:

"How can we store the water coming from floods, so that, we can use it in times of water scarcity?

The above way of thinking is extremely crucial since very often an area can have large amounts of water, and months later, the same area can face drought conditions

The interventions that can prevent and mitigate the effects of floods are:

1. Stream arrangements, with construction of retaining dams in the mountain beds to hold the stereo supply.
2. The use of underground filtration fields for the surface runoff of the highways if they are first cleaned from the concentrations of hydrocarbons and oils with the appropriate technical works.
3. Flood problems in the built-up urban environment can also be mitigated by constructing underground filtration fields that will initially act as balancing tanks for rainwater storage and then allow runoff to drain into the groundwater aquifer..
4. The installation of permeable floors in large parking lots, in shopping malls, supermarkets, cinemas, monuments and around buildings, so that a percentage of rainwater penetrates into the subsoil.
5. Maintenance of green spaces so that water is absorbed by the soil. Implement a civil protection system that will warn and evacuate residents in a timely manner and temporarily accommodate them elsewhere.

Each Region and Municipality must take the necessary measures regarding the floods. Otherwise the socio-economic consequences can be fatal.

Prevention and protection are the only effective ways to approach this phenomenon.