Flood Modelling and Risk Assessment of L
Flood Modelling and Risk Assessment of L
Flood Modelling and Risk Assessment of L
Published by Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Benin, Benin City,
Nigeria
VOL. 15, ISSUE 1, APRIL 2017, ISSN 15965538, Pages 106- 121
1.0 Introduction
Many communities have suffered severe losses due to the problem of flooding. So many lives have
been lost due to flooding. It has led to the destruction of properties, leading to major economic
damages in such places. This makes it paramount to prepare for its occurrence before time and to
provide ways in which its effect can be minimized or averted. In the past decade in Nigeria,
thousands of lives and properties worth millions of Naira have been lost directly or indirectly from
flooding every year (Ishaya, 2009). Nigeria is one of the countries faced with the issue of flooding.
There are economic losses due to the effect of flooding, on a yearly basis. In Lagos, a state that has
a low-lying topography, areas like Festac, Lagos Island, Eti-Osa etc., which are some major urban
and commercial areas of the state, are usually flooded due to excessive rainfall leading to the loss of
lives and destruction of properties in such areas.
Overtime, different approaches or methods have been employed in flood modelling, analyses and
predictions and the production of flood vulnerability maps. Flood vulnerability assessments have
been carried out by various people and researchers in various ways. Their methods are tied to the
Journal of Civil and Environmental Systems Engineering - UNIBEN c 2017
data availability, objectives of the flood vulnerability study as well as the desired results to be
obtained. In some cases, the need to carry out a flood plain mapping is of great importance and in
some other cases just the use of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) raster based calculations can reveal
areas that are highly prone to flooding. With the advent of technologies like Global Positioning
Systems, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology and Geospatial Information Systems
(GIS), the speed and quality of map making has greatly improved. As a result of this, maps created
are not just maps but have become a reliable source of information that aid good decision making
and planning. LIDAR, a remote sensing technology that provides us with precise three dimensional
data of features, has revolutionized the process of three dimensional positioning and mapping,
which is a great requirement in accurate flood modelling, inundation mapping and predictions.
Eric Christopher Tate in 1999 carried out a research work that presented a straightforward
approach, involving the processing of output results from HEC-RAS hydraulic model, to enable
two- and three-dimensional floodplain mapping and analysis in the ArcView Geographic
Information System. The methodology employed was applied to a reach of Waller Creek, located in
Austin, Texas. A planar floodplain view was developed using digital orthophotos as a base map. A
digital terrain model was also synthesized from HEC-RAS cross-sectional coordinate data and a
digital elevation model of the study area. The resulting surface model provided a good
representation of the general landscape and contained additional detail within the stream channel.
The results of the research indicated that GIS is an effective tool for floodplain mapping and
analysis. A floodplain map covering the study area was created.
According to Evans et al., (2004), GIS applications in flood risk mapping range from storing and
managing hydrological data to generating flood inundation and hazard maps to assist flood risk
management. In a strategic flood risk assessment for the Medway Estuary, Evans et al., (2004) used
a combination of various datasets such as near-shore bathymetry, low level LIDAR, forward and
downward looking video, LIDAR as well as flood defence asset data. GIS was used in manipulating
and processing the various forms and types of spatial data for the strategic flood risk assessment and
this was linked to the 1D and 2D flood modelling techniques. TUFLOW was used for the flood
modelling process. The use of GIS in land classification, data processing, the creation of Digital
Terrain Model (DTM), flood risk and hazard mapping and the integration of GIS with modelling,
was of great emphasis in their work. The results obtained from their work include flood risk/hazard
maps and assessments for the study area. A two dimensional simulation scenario was also created in
the cause of their work. Their study also involved flood modelling of the adjoining areas of the
study area. It covered the area in which the drainage network data (which is a key data requirement
for the modelling process), acquired for the project covered. The HEC modelling packages (HEC-
HMS and HEC-RAS), were used for the flood modelling process. In addition to the key data
requirements such as the drainage network, LIDAR (DEM) and land use data, other forms of data
like the precipitation data and information on the elevation of buildings were inputted in the
production of a two dimensional representation of the flood modelling results (flood inundation
map) and the three dimensional representation of the study area respectively.
Figure 1: Representation of the location of the study areas with water bodies present in Lagos State.
Lagos Island and Eti-Osa LGAs are labelled ‘1’ and ‘2’ respectively.
Eqn. 1
Substituting the empirical relationship of Ia and S, given as , as developed by the SCS, the
Eqn. 2
The maximum retention S and the watershed characteristics are related through an intermediate
parameter, the curve number (CN). This is given by Equations 3 and 4 as follows (Feldman, 2000):
Eqn. 3
Eqn. 4
Equation 3 is used for measurements in foot – pound system while Equation 4 is used for
measurements in SI units.
Where,
The channel routing computation follows in the determination of hydrographs or discharge rate. The
method used is the Lag method. Routing Lag is dependent on the time of concentration. The value
is estimated using the Curve Number parameter (see Feldman, 2000).
Eqn. 5
Where,
Z1, Z2 = elevation of channel bottom;
Y1, Y2 = water depth at cross sections;
V1, V2 = average velocities (overall discharge/total flow area);
a1, a2 = gravitational acceleration; and
he = energy head loss.
The energy head loss is given as (Ackerman, 2011; Brunner, 2001, 2010):
Eqn. 6
Where,
L = discharge weighted reach length;
Sf = representative friction slope between two sections;
C = expansion or contraction loss coefficient;
The discharge weighted reach length, L is given as (Ackerman, 2011; Brunner, 2001, 2010):
Where,
Llob, Lch, Lrob = cross section reach lengths specified for flow in the left overbank, main channel and
right over bank, respectively;
Qlob + Qch + Qrob = arithmetic average of the flows between section for the left overbank, main
channel and right over bank, respectively.
A meteorological model was developed in the HEC-HMS modelling package. Daily precipitation
data acquired for a period of six months were added to the HEC-HMS project generated. This was
to provide it with adequate amount of rainfall data to be used in the model calculation process. The
control specification specifies the time window for which the model calculates discharges. Control
specifications for each time window that the model makes calculations was created. A time interval
of 24 hours was used since daily precipitation data was acquired for the study. Figure 3 shows the
HEC-RAS modelling operation.
The next step, in the hydraulic model development was to add the steady flow data. The steady flow
data and analysis applies a time series of discharge rates at each river reach in the computation of
cross sectional hydraulic flow. The discharge rates are fed into columns termed as profiles in the
steady flow data workspace. The profiles need to read information from the HMS discharge model
results at specified time steps. To do this, a DSS (data store) connection is made to the location of
the data store of results from the HMS model run. Figure 5 shows the flow data and conditions for
all reaches being inputted.
After a model run, data from HEC-RAS was imported into the GIS environment for the post-
processing and flood mapping of the model results. This was carried out using the HEC-GeoRAS
extension. The water surface generation, flood plain delineations and the subsequent flood
inundation map production were carried out. Figure 6 shows the cross-sectional profile check and
display (for peak flows).
In the course of delineating the flood extent, a bounding polygon for the inundation extent was
created and the area for this polygon was calculated. The total area covered by this polygon was
7649280.652sq.meters (7.649sq.kilometres). This value excludes the area covered by the
waterbody.
Figure 9: Chart showing Buildings within the flood extent at high risk by percentage distribution
Coordinates acquired for the locations were used to geo-locate them over the flood model with the
image files (images taken on field after rainfall) of these points hyperlinked to them. An inspection
of modelled inundation against pictorial representations was then conducted at each location.
Figure 11: Relating site picture of flooded location with its position on the map
Figure 11 depicts the flood inundation image of a location in Lagos Island (Sura area) and its
corresponding position on the flood map. This image matches the location on the map showing the
result of the flood model and extent. An important observation is that some of the locations
predicted to have flood had undergone structural change on site due to construction and
redevelopment that had taken place in the space of time that had elapsed since the collection of the
LIDAR geometric data used for flood modelling. In these areas, it is expected that the model return
would be different from ground conditions as the elevation data is no longer representative of the
prevailing terrain. Table 2 shows a summary of field validation results.
Journal of Civil and Environmental Systems Engineering - UNIBEN c 2017
Table 2: Validation results for the flood model result by geo-locating the GPS points
Eti-Osa
Lagos
Island Victoria Island and Ikoyi
Lekki Phase 1
No. of Locations 17 8 13
Matched Flood Prediction 17 4 6
No Flood Prediction (From
0 2 3
Model)
Change In Ground Condition 0 2 4
4.3 Discussion
The floodplain modelling system used in this study has provided results that can help in
preparedness and awareness creation concerning flooding in the study areas. The flood model result
shows a range of flood depths and its extent in the study area considered. From the results provided
in Table 1 and the chart depicting this result in Figure 9, we see that buildings (structures) that have
the highest risk (within the flood extent obtained from the model result), with a total percentage
coverage of 72.34%, are mainly for residential/commercial purposes. This is followed by buildings
that are strictly for business and commerce, which have a total of 13.51%. These results show that
the lives of the people living in this area as well as the commercial activities, are highly threatened
and this will have a severe negative impact on the social well-being of the inhabitants.
From the flood modelling and validation process carried out, most of the highly vulnerable areas or
areas that are at the highest risk fall within Lagos Island Local Government Area. Places like
Binuyo, Dolphin Estate, as well as Sura are highly inundated from the modelling results and even in
the course of site visitation. The Idumagbo roads as well as Adeniji road, which are highly
commercial areas, are highly at risk. This is mainly due to the fact that these areas are highly low in
elevation and some of the residential and commercial activities carried out are within the drainage
outlets. This further poses threat to the activities present therein. Other areas at risk are Osbourne in
Ikoyi, Ikoyi West, Victoria Island, Lekki Phase 1 as well as some places in Banana Island. The
results obtained for these areas mentioned in terms of flood depth and extent are not as high as those
obtained for the areas at risk in Lagos Island LGA.
5.0 Conclusion
The results and information generated from this study using LIDAR data, remote sensing
techniques, flood modelling (using the HEC model) as well as GIS analyses have demonstrated that
it is possible to effectively produce flood vulnerability maps at various levels of vulnerability (low,
moderate and high vulnerability levels) as well as make predictions as regards flooding in the study
area. This makes it possible to carry out desired analyses and inferences at whatever time it is
required.
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