The risk analysis of levee systems: a comparison of international best practices

Abstract

A risk analysis of a levee system estimates the overall level of flood risk associated with the levee system, according to a series of loading conditions, the levee performance and the vulnerability to flooding of assets in the protected area. This process, which requires the identification and examination of all the components that determine the risk of flooding in a system, includes different steps. Among these steps, ‘levee system failure analysis’, ‘flood consequences analysis’ and ‘risk attribution’ have benefitted from the most important advances of recent research projects. This paper presents a critical analysis of the latest methods to conduct levee system failure analysis, flood consequences analysis and risk attribution. It shows how these methods can contribute to improving the efficiency of the risk analysis process and therefore the design and management of levee systems.