A methodological approach to land use-based flood damage assessment in urban areas: Prague case study

The reasons for the increased flood hazard are several and correlated. Potential climate changes are expected to cause a rise in the frequency as well as the intensity of rainfall, which may lead to more widespread and severe natural disaster. On the other hand, built-up areas are spreading across Europe and increasing much faster than population. This twofold expansion increases the exposure and vulnerability of urban areas to flooding, and also, as a consequence, the social and economic damage in case of a catastrophic flood event. The European Commission (EC) and the Member States of the European Union (EU) have recognized the significance of natural hazards regarding protection of the environment and citizens. This paper describes impacts of water-related risks, with the aim to establish an overall cost-estimate of losses. In particular, the work focuses on the economic aspects of flood damages by investigating the value of physical assets affected by the event. A damage assessment is proposed to evaluate the damage costs of direct losses in residential areas; the economic damage is estimated for the study area of Prague, which was subjected to dramatic flooding in August 2002.