FLOOD CONTROL Flood Forecasting and Warning

Flood - Flood is an overflow of water that submerges land that is normally • is a process that involves the use of scientific methods and
dry. It can be caused by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt, or the failure of man- technologies to predict and alert people about the possibility of a
made structures such as dams and levees flood event in a particular area.
• Flood forecasting typically involves monitoring weather patterns
Here are some important things to keep in mind:
and water levels in rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water using
Floods can happen anywhere sensors and other monitoring equipment.
Flooding can be devastating • Rainfall color coding is a common way to forecast and
There are different types of floods communicate potential flooding or other water-related hazards in
Preparation is key a particular area

Causes and Consequences of Floods

EXAMPLE OF RAINFALL COLOR
Climate Change
Human Activity
Loss of Life
Damage of Infrastructure
Economic Losses
Green: No immediate Yellow: Moderate risk
Flood Control - practice of managing and reducing the risk of flooding in
danger
communities. It involves a range of measures that aim to prevent or minimize
the damage caused by floods, and to protect the lives and property of people
living in flood-prone areas.
Orange: High risk Red: Severe risk
Three main categories:
Flood Alert Level - a warning that is issued to communities and individuals
● Structural
when the water level in a river, lake, or other body of water reaches a certain
● Non-Structural threshold that may result in flooding.
● Nature
Flood Level Alerts Classification

Structural - refer to the physical infrastructure built to prevent or  Flood Watch

mitigate the impact of floods.  Flood Warning
 Flash Flood Warning
Structural Examples
Dams - are structures built across rivers or other waterways to control the FLOOD LEVEL EXAMPLE
flow of water and mitigate the risk of flooding.
• Normal river level: below 2.2 meters
Levees - are man-made embankments or walls built along the banks of a
• Alert level 1: 2.2 - 3.0 meters
river or other waterway to contain and control the flow of water during
• Alert level 2: 3.0 - 4.0 meters
flooding events.
• Alert level 3: 4.0 - 5.0 meters
Floodwall - is a vertical barrier designed to hold back water in the event of a
• Alert level 4: 5.0 - 6.0 meters
flood.
• Alert level 5: above 6.0 meters
Seawall - is a barrier built along the coast to protect against the force of
Benefits Of Flood Control
waves and storm surge
• Protecting lives and property
Non- Structural - refer to policies, planning, and actions taken to reduce the • Reducing the risk of flooding
impact of flooding without the construction of physical infrastructure. • Improving public safety
• Enhancing environmental sustainability
Non- Structural Examples • Promoting economic development:
 Land-use planning and zoning
 Public education campaigns flood has a lot of benefits?
 Early warning systems
 Floodplain management practices • Replenishing groundwater
 Emergency response plans • Fertilizing soil
• Supporting aquatic ecosystems
Natural - refer to a range of measures that utilize natural systems to mitigate • Restoring river channels
the risk of flooding. • Recharging wetlands

Natural Examples
 Restoration and preservation of wetlands
 Planting of vegetation in flood prone areas. FLOOD ESTIMATION
 Green Infrastructure
The Economic Impact of Flood Control Flood Estimation - Flood estimation is the process of predicting the
magnitude and frequency of floods in a given area. Its main purpose is to
Flood control measures, including the construction of dams, levees, and provide reliable information and data to support flood risk management
other infrastructure, can have both positive and negative economic impacts. efforts

Factors Influencing Flood Estimation

 Direct Costs: The direct cost of constructing and maintaining flood
control measures can be significant.  Rainfall patterns and intensity
 Improved Property Values: Flood control measures can help protect  Topography and catchment characteristics
homes and businesses from flood damage, which can in turn increase  Land use and land cover changes
property values.
 Climate change impacts
 Agricultural Benefits: Flood control measures, such as irrigation
systems and drainage infrastructure, can benefit agricultural production Methods of Flood Estimation
 Transportation and Infrastructure Benefits: Floods can damage roads,
bridges, and other infrastructure, disrupting transportation and causing  Statistical methods
economic losses.  Hydrological modeling
 Ecological Impacts: Flood control measures can have negative  Hydrological modeling
ecological impacts, such as disrupting natural water flows and habitats
for fish and wildlife
Size of floods - The size of floods can vary greatly depending on a variety of
factors and the presence of human modifications.
  MINOR floods - relatively small floods that generally result in
minimal damage to property and infrastructure.
 MAJOR floods - most severe type: can cause extensive damage EMPIRICAL METHOD - EMPIRICAL METHODs are widely used to
to property, infrastructure, and the natural environment. determine the time of concentration in ungauged watersheds. • It should be
 MODERATE floods - significant than minor: can cause moderate employed only when there is insufficient available hydrologic information for
damage to buildings, roads, and other infrastructure performing the detailed and precise analysis.
Challenges in Flood Estimation EMPIRICAL FORMULA:
 Limited data availability and quality (a) DICKEN’S FORMULA (1865)
(b) RYVE’S FORMULA (1884)
 Uncertainties in climate change projections
(c) INGLIS FORMULA (1930)
 Uncertainties in climate change projections

Estimation peak of floods - is an important part of flood prediction and UNIT-HYDROGRAPH TECHNIQUE
management.
 Unit hydro graph was proposed by L.K.Sherman.
 PEAK OF FLOODS - refers to the maximum flowrate or discharge  Unit hydrograph is defined as the hydrograph of surface runoff of
of water that occurs during a flood event. a catchment area resulting from unit depth of rainfall excess.
 PEAK FLOW OF FLOODS - typically estimated using hydrological
models that take into account various factors as well as the ASSUMPTIONS IN UNIT HYDROGRAPH TECHNIQUE
characteristics of the watershed. i. Rainfall is of uniform intensity within its specified duration. ii. The effecive
rainfall is uniformly distributed throughout the area of drainage.
Flood frequency - refers to the likelihood of a flood of a given magnitude or
severity occurring in a particular area. FLOOD FREQUENCY - Flood frequency analysis will be caried out to know
Flood frequency analysis is a technique used to estimate the probability of the frequency of a particular flood that occurs at a certain interval. These
different flood magnitudes based on historical flood data. It involves the use analysis will be based on the different parameters, which willl be explained
of statistical methods to analyze historical flood data and to estimate below.
frequency and magnitude of floods.
NEED OF FLOOD ESTIMATION
Flood Estimation – analysis of flood will be carried out based on the  to design the water resource structure such as dam,spillways,
precipitation occurring in the catchment. diversion works, bridge etc.
 to determine the maximum discharge and maximum potential.
PARAMETERS  estimate cost and size of structure
 Frequency
 Time period
 Intensity of flood
FLOOD ROUTING
SIZE OF FLOOD - understanding the chance of different sized floods
occuring is important for managing flood risk. FLOOD ROUTING - The process of estimating the flood discharge at a point
on a river or a stream, based on the input discharge from an upstream
The best method for calculating the chance of different sized floods occuring location.
is statistical analysis of long-term flood records from STREAM GAUGING
STATIONS. MAIN TYPES
 Hydrologic flood routing
Where a long-term flood record exists, and no significant changes have  Hydraulic flood routing
occured to the cathment, a statistical technique known as FLOOD
FREQUENCY ANALYSIS can be used to determine the likelihood of floods
of diferent sizes occuring at a specific site in the future. Hydrologic flood routing uses mathematical models to estimate the flood
discharge,
• Where sufficient flood records do not exist, or a very rare flood needs to be
estimated, rainfall based techniques are used. These use statistical analysis Hydraulic flood routing uses physical models to simulate the flow of water
of rainfall records, together with computer models based on the geographical through the channel.
characteristics (for example, catchment area, waterway length) of the region
being studied, to determine the chance of different sized floods occuring RESERVOIR ROUTING - Involves the estimation of the outflow from a
reservoir, based on the inflow and physical characteristics of the reservoir.
 These techniques result in predictions for peak water flows at key IMPORTANCE
locations in rivers. These predictions are translated into flood l e v Reservoir routing is important for managing water resources and for
e l s a t a n y po i n t o f interest in the floodplain, through the use designing reservoirs for flood control.
of further computer models known as FLOODPLAIN HYDRAULIC
MODELS. STREAM FLOW ROUTING - The estimation of the flow of water in a stream
or a river, based on the physical characteristics of the channel and the
FLOODPLAIN HYDRAULIC MODELS - Virtual representations of the river sorrounding terrain.
and its surrounding land, or floodplain. They incorporate things such as
ground levels, road, embankments and river sizes to estimate. Stream flow or channel runoff is the flow of water in streams and other
channels, and it is a major element of water cycle.
Output:
 Representations of predicted flood levels IMPORTANCE
 Predicted speed of water Important for designing water supply systems, flood control mesaures, and
for understanding the impact of land uses changes on the hydrological cycle.
ESTIMATION OF PEEK - A flood is an usually high stage
in a river, usually the level at which the river overflows its banks and In channel or stream flow routing the storage is a function of both outflow and
inundates the adjoining area. inflow discharges and hence a different routing method is needed. The flow
in a river during a flood belongs to the category of gradually varied unsteady
To estimate the magnitude of a flood peak, the following alternative methods flow. Considering a channel reach having a flood flow, the total volume in
are available: storage can be considered under two categories as:
 RATIONAL METHOD
1. Prism storage - is the volume that would exist if the uniform flow occurred
 EMPIRICAL METHOD
at the downstream depth, i.e. the volume formed by an imaginary plane
 UNIT-HYDROGRAPH TECHNIQUE
parallel to the channel bottom drawn at the outflow section water surface.
 FLOOD-FREQUENCY STUDIES
2. Wedge storage - is the wedge-like volume formed between the actual
RATIONAL METHOD - Rational Method expresses a relationship between water surface profile and the top surface of the prism storage.
rainfall intensity and catchment area as independent variables and the peak
flood discharge resulting from the rainfall as the dependent variable.
Muskingum Method - As in the reservoir routing, in the channel routing also a  estimating the adequacy of culverts and spillways
second independent relationship is required to solve for Q2 and S2 in Eq.  forecasting how much floodplain inundation may take place and
This is provided by the Muskingum storage equation which assumes that the  making other flow dependent calculations
storage in the channel reach at any time is dependent both on inflow and
outflow. STREAMFLOW CHARACTERISTICS

FLOOD ROUTING

FLOOD ROUTING - The major goal of flood routing is to

determine the flood frequency distribution at a downstream location knowing
the upstream catchment,
channel reaches, and detention ponds.

FLOOD ROUTING
 UPSTREAM CATCHMENT - is defined as the total area of a
catchment that drains into a sampling site
 CHANNEL REACHES - Reaches is a segment of a stream or
river with comparable discharge, depth, area, and slope
hydrologic characteristics.
 DETENTION PONDS - Hold back flood water and slowly release
the water so that creeks and rivers do not become flooded.

HYDROLOGIC AND HYDRAULIC FLOOD ROUTING METHODS

 HYDROLOGIC - The majority of hydrologic techniques are based
on the relationship between storage and discharge in a stream
reach or reservoir, as well as the conservation of mass equation.
 Involves simplified numerical techniques, conservation o
mass, and steady flow hydraulics.
 HYDRAULIC - The answers to the conservation of mass equation
and conservation of momentum are the foundation for hydraulic
methods
 Involves simplified numerical techniques, conservation o
mass, and steady flow hydraulics.

RESERVOIR ROUTING - is a relation of elevation or stage with volume of

storage

RESERVOIR FLOOD ROUTING METHOD

 STEP 1 Select elevation increments that define the topography with
reasonable accuracy, and tabulate them in table 1.
 STEP 2 Determine reservoir surface area at each elevation. For this
table the areas were determined in acres and tabulated in column 2.
 STEP 3 Compute average surface area in column 3.
 STEP 4 Tabulate the increments of depth in Table 4.
 STEP 5 Compute the increments of storage for column 5 by mutiplying
an average area in column 3 by its appropriate depth increment in
column 4.
 STEP 6 Accumulate the storage increments of column 5 in column 6 for
each elevation of column 1

STORAGE, PONDAGE, FLOW DURATION CURVES

STORAGE
• It is part of water balance equation.
• Within the hydrological cycle there are several areas where water can be
considered to be stored, most notably soil moisture, groundwater, snow and
ice and, to a lesser extent, lakes and reservoirs.

STREAM FLOW ROUTING - The method of routing entails foreseeing the STORED WATER
hydrograph's shape at a certain position in a channel, reservoir, or lake. The • DEFINITION: Not perfect as it could include rivers as stored water in
hydrograph depicts the impact of a measured or predicted discharge-or flow- addition to groundwater, etc.
at a different site, usually upstream. • The distinction is often made on the basis of flow rates (i.e. how quickly the
- Routing allows the information from one location to be used to water moves while in storage). There is no critical limit to say when a deep,
estimate river levels downstream. Or, in some cases such as in slow river becomes a lake, and likewise there is no definition of how slow the
tidal zone, it may also be used to estimate river levels upstream. flow has to be before becoming stored water. It relies on an intuitive
judgement that slow flow rates constitute stored water.
• SIGNIFICANCE: It is by far the largest amount of fresh water in or around
EFFECTS OF CHANNEL SHAPE ON DISCHARGE planet earth.
- if a channel is narrow and canyon–like with almost no flood plain,
a large rise in stage may only produce a small increase in TYPES STORED WATER
discharge. however, for a shallow channel with a very broad flood  TYPES STORED WATER
plain, the same stage increase could result in a very large  Water beneath the earth’s surface in snow and ice
increase in the discharge as the water spreads across the flood
plain. RESERVOIR MASS CURVE

WHY IS STREAMFLOW ROUTING USED BY HYDROLOGISTS? MASS DIGRAM - a graphical representation of cumulative inflow into the
 routing is most often used to predict flood peaks, water volume, reservoir versus time which may be monthly or yearly.
and the timing of the flow
Mass Curve water during nonworking hours, idle days, and low load periods for use
 A two-year mass curve is depicted shown on the right. during hours of peak load demand.
 The slope of the mass curve at any location represents the
current inflow rate.  Run-of-river plants are feasible for streams that have a minimum dry
 The required rates of reservoir draw-off are shown by drawing weather flow or receive flow as regulated by any storage reservoir
tangents with slopes equal to the demand rates at the highest upstream.
points of the mass curve
 The maximum deviation between the demand line and the mass PONDAGE FACTOR - It is the ratio of the total inflow hours in a week to the
curve shows the reservoir's storage capacity necessary to supply total number of hours of working at the power plant in that week.
the demand.
EXAMPLE
SALIENT FEATURE IN THE MASS CURVE OF FLOW
 a - b The inflow rate exceeds the demand rate of x cumec and the Assuming constant stream flow A. If a powerplant operated for 6 days in a
reservoir is overflowing week at 8 hours per day. What is the pondage factor B?. If the plant works
 b The inflow rate equals the demand rate and the reservoir is just only for 5 days in a week. Calculate the pondage factor and the pondage
full. required with a daily flow of 50 units.
 b - c The inflow rate is less than the demand rate and the water is
drawn from storage Formula:
 c inflow rate equals demand rate and S1 is the draw off from the • Pondage factor = Total inflow hours / Total operating hours
reservoir (Mm3) • Pondage required = (Pondage factor × daily flow volume) - daily flow
 c - d inflow rate exceeds demand rate and the reservoir is filling. volume
 d reservoir is full again
A. For the scenario where the power plant operates for 6 days in a week at 8
 d - e same as a-b
hours per day:
 e similar to b
 e - f similar to b-c
a. Calculate the total inflow hours in a week: Total inflow hours = 7 days × 24
 f inflow rate equals demand rate and S2 is the draw off from the hours = 168 hours
reservoir b. Calculate the total number of hours the power plant operates in that week:
 f - g similar to c-d Total operating hours = 6 days × 8 hours = 48 hours
c. Calculate the pondage factor: Pondage factor = Total inflow hours / Total
THE USE OF MASS CURVE IS DETERMINED operating hours Pondage factor = 168 hours / 48 hours = 3.5
 The storage capacity of the reservoir required to meet a particular Therefore, in this case, the pondage factor is 3.5.
withdrawal rate.
 The possible rate of withdrawal from a reservoir of specified B. For the scenario where the power plant operates for 5 days in a week:
storage capacity
a. Calculate the total inflow hours in a week (which remains the same): Total
OBSERVED INFLOW RATES inflow hours = 7 days × 24 hours = 168 hours
To be adjusted for the monthly evaporation from the following: b. Calculate the total number of hours the power plant operates in that week:
• reservoir surface, Total operating hours = 5 days × 8 hours = 40 hours
• precipitation, c. Calculate the pondage factor: Pondage factor = Total inflow hours / Total
• seepage through the dam, operating hours Pondage factor = 168 hours / 40 hours = 4.2
• inflow from adjacent basins, The pondage factor in this case is 4.2.
• required releases for downstream users,
• sediment inflow, etc. while calculating the storage capacity of the reservoir PONDAGE
 To store the idle day flow
 The average flow figures for the site of a proposed dam are
collected for about 10 years.  For use during hours of peak load
 From this record the flow figures for the driest year are used for  To balance the fluctuations in the stream flow
drawing the mass flow curve.  To compensate for wastage ( due to leakage) and spillage.
 Graphical analysis is enough for preliminary studies.
 Final studies are made by tabular computation.
STORAGE, PONDAGE AND FLOW DURATION CURVES

If tangents are drawn to the crest and trough of the mass curve such that; Pondage - usually refers to the comparably small water storage behind the
• the departure of the lines represents the specified reservoir capacity, weir of a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power plant. Such a power plant has
• the slope of the tangent at the crest gives the continuous flow that can be considerably less storage than the reservoirs of large dams and conventional
maintained with the available storage capacity. hydroelectric stations which can store water for long periods such as a dry
season or year.
 From this the greatest continuous power output for the available
fall at the site for a given plant efficiency and load factor can be A flow duration curve - is a plot of discharge against the percent of time the
determined. flow was equaled or exceeded. This is known as the discharge frequency
curve. The flow-duration curve is a cumulative frequency curve that show the
percent of time specified discharges were equaled or exceeded during a
FLOW DURATION CURVES given period.

FLOW DURATION CURVE - It shows the percentage of time that certain RESERVOIR MASS CURVE AND STORAGE
values of discharge weekly, monthly, or yearly were equaled or exceeded in
the available number of years of record. During high flows, water flowing in a river has to be stored so that a uniform
supply of water can be assured, for water resources utilisation like irrigation,
 It is actually a river discharge frequency curve and the longer the period water supply, power generation, etc. during periods of low flows of the river.
of record, the more accurate is the indication of the long-term yield of a The slope of the mass curve at any point is a measure of the inflow rate at
stream. that time. Required rates of draw off from the reservoir are marked by
- A flat curve indicates a river with a few floods with large drawing tangents, having slopes equal to the demand rates, at the highest
groundwater contributions, while a steep curve indicates frequent points of the mass curve. The maximum departure between the demand line
floods and dry periods with little groundwater contribution. and the mass curve represents the storage capacity of the reservoir required
to meet the demand. A demand line must intersect the mass curve when
- Since the area under the curve represents the volume of flow, the
extended forward, otherwise the reservoir is not going to refill.
storage will affect the flow duration curve as shown by the dashed
line in the figure on the right, reducing the extreme flows and
increasing the very low flows
PONDAGE - While storage refers to large reservoirs to take care of monthly
or seasonal fluctuations in the river flow, pondage usually refers to the small
storage at the back of a weir, in run-of-river plants, for temporarily storing
The use of mass curve is to determine:
(i) the storage capacity of the reservoir required to meet a
particular withdrawal rate.
(ii) (ii) the possible rate of withdrawal from a reservoir of
specified storage capacity.
The observed inflow rates have to be adjusted for the monthly evaporation
from the reservoir surface, precipitation, seepage through the dam, inflow
from adjacent basins, required releases for downstream users, sediment
inflow, etc. while calculating the storage capacity of the reservoir.

FLOW DURATION CURVES - Flow duration curves show the percentage of

time that certain values of discharge weekly, monthly or yearly were equalled
or exceeded in the available number of years of record. The selection of the
time interval depends on the purpose of the study. As the time interval
increases the range of the curve decrease.

The flow duration curve is actually a river discharge frequency curve and
longer the period of record, more accurate is the indication of the long term
yield of a stream. A flat curve indicates a river with a few floods with large
ground water contribution, while a steep curve indicates frequent floods and
dry periods with little ground water contribution. Since the area under the
curve represents the volume of flow, the storage will affect the flow duration
curve, reducing the extreme flows and increasing the very low flows.

While daily flow rates of small storms are useful for the pondage studies in a
runoff river power development plant, monthly flow rates for a number of
years are useful in power development plants from a large storage reservoir.

PONDAGE - While storage refers to large reservoirs to take care of monthly

or seasonal fluctuations in the river flow, pondage usually refers to the small
storage at the back of a weir, in run-of-river plants, for temporarily storing
water during non-working hours, idle days and low load periods for use
during hours of peak load demand. Run-of-river plants are feasible for
streams which have a minimum dry weather flow or receive flow as regulated
by any storage reservoir upstream.