CHAPTER 11
Identifying Sites for Flood Protection - A Case Study from the River
Clyde
G. Jones
ABSTRACT: This chapter presents a methodology which utilizes GIS to provide a
priority ranking for estuarine sites which require new or additional flood protection.
The use of a powerful proprietry spreadsheet for the preparation of the database allows
rapid updating of data and for the calculation of different scenarios for flood
prediction.
Introduction
Global warming is a widely accepted phenomenon, (DoE, 1996; Wigley et.al, 1992a;
1992b) although the consequences remain controversial. One area of uncertainty
concerns the extent to which sea level will rise leading to an increase in the possibility
of flooding of coastal areas (Robin, 1986; IPCC, 1990; Warrick and Rahman, 1992).
The occurrence of serious coastal flooding which resulted from severe winter
storms, for example on February 26th 1990 at Towyn, North Wales, (Kay and
Wilkinson, 1990), and in February, 1991 at Greenock in the Clyde Estuary, served to
focus public attention on the possibility of an increase in damage from coastal flooding.
It has also caused business and commercial interests to reassess the likely structural,
transportation and financial implications of increased flooding (DoE, 1993). In
particular, property insurance companies have substantially reassessed the financial
liability of coastal and river flooding of low lying areas.
On present evidence it appears unlikely that the predicted rise in sea level
around the British coastline due to global warming over the next 30 years would be
capable of causing coastal flooding in anything other than specific and localised areas.
The susceptible areas are, however, frequently the preferred location of modern day
149
D.R. Green and S.D. King (eds.), Coastal and Marine Geo-Information Systems, 149–161.
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Identifying Sites for Flood Protection - A Case Study from the River
Clyde
G. Jones
ABSTRACT: This chapter presents a methodology which utilizes GIS to provide a
priority ranking for estuarine sites which require new or additional flood protection.
The use of a powerful proprietry spreadsheet for the preparation of the database allows
rapid updating of data and for the calculation of different scenarios for flood
prediction.
Introduction
Global warming is a widely accepted phenomenon, (DoE, 1996; Wigley et.al, 1992a;
1992b) although the consequences remain controversial. One area of uncertainty
concerns the extent to which sea level will rise leading to an increase in the possibility
of flooding of coastal areas (Robin, 1986; IPCC, 1990; Warrick and Rahman, 1992).
The occurrence of serious coastal flooding which resulted from severe winter
storms, for example on February 26th 1990 at Towyn, North Wales, (Kay and
Wilkinson, 1990), and in February, 1991 at Greenock in the Clyde Estuary, served to
focus public attention on the possibility of an increase in damage from coastal flooding.
It has also caused business and commercial interests to reassess the likely structural,
transportation and financial implications of increased flooding (DoE, 1993). In
particular, property insurance companies have substantially reassessed the financial
liability of coastal and river flooding of low lying areas.
On present evidence it appears unlikely that the predicted rise in sea level
around the British coastline due to global warming over the next 30 years would be
capable of causing coastal flooding in anything other than specific and localised areas.
The susceptible areas are, however, frequently the preferred location of modern day
149
D.R. Green and S.D. King (eds.), Coastal and Marine Geo-Information Systems, 149–161.
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.