Increased Frequency of Low‐Magnitude Floods in New England1

Armstrong, William H., Mathias J. Collins, and Noah P. Snyder, 2012. Increased Frequency of Low‐Magnitude Floods in New England. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(2): 306‐320. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00613.x Abstract: Recent studies document increasing precipitation and streamflow in the northeastern United States throughout the 20th and early 21st Centuries. Annual peak discharges have increased over this period on many New England rivers with dominantly natural streamflow – especially for smaller, more frequent floods. To better investigate high‐frequency floods (<5‐year recurrence interval), we analyze the partial duration flood series for 23 New England rivers selected for minimal human impact. The study rivers have continuous records through 2006 and an average period of record of 71 years. Twenty‐two of the 23 rivers show increasing trends in peaks over threshold per water year (POT/WY) – a direct measure of flood frequency – using the Mann‐Kendall trend test. Ten of these trends had p < 0.1. Seventeen rivers show positive trends in flood magnitude, six of which had p < 0.1. We also investigate a potential hydroclimatic shift in the region around 1970. Twenty‐two of the 23 rivers show increased POT/WY in the post‐1970 period when comparing pre‐ and post‐1970 records using the Wilcoxon rank‐sum test. More than half of these increases have p < 0.1, indicating a shift in flow regime toward more frequent flooding. Region wide, we found a median increase of one flood per year for the post‐1970 period. Because frequent floods are important channel‐forming flows, these results have implications for channel and floodplain morphology, aquatic habitat, and restoration.     

基于碑刻记录的嘉陵江清代洪水发生规律及成因研究

基于历史文献法收集整理了《四川两千年洪水史料汇编》中嘉陵江清代洪水碑刻的碑文记录,并利用Gibbs-Mirtin多样化指数法分析洪水碑刻记录的空间分布特征。结果发现:清朝时期,嘉陵江流域共有洪水碑刻记录55通,月份明确可辨的有36通。空间上整体分布不均,下游多于中上游,其中嘉陵江干流28通(20通有明确月份;Gibbs-Mirtin多样化指数为0.46,上游仅有零星分布,相对集中于中下游),渠江16通(10通有明确月份;Gibbs-Mirtin多样化指数为0.71,各河段均有分布),涪江11通(6通有明确月份;Gibbs-Mirtin多样化指数为0,仅集中于下游的重庆市)。洪水碑刻记录在年内主要分布于6、7、8、9四个月,洪水碑刻清晰记录了清代1679年(2通)、1840年(3通)、1870年(17通)、1903年(2通)4次特大洪水,洪水碑刻记录的嘉陵江流域清代洪水的发生频率为7 a一洪。清代嘉陵江洪水碑刻记录反映了流域夏秋季洪水较多,这与嘉陵江流域的亚热带湿润季风气候、多洪齐发的扇状水系、低山丘陵-谷坝地形、松散的土壤质地以及"湖广填川"时期毁林垦荒导致的水土流失与河道淤积有关。     

Social impact of the 2004 Manawatu floods and the 'hollowing out' of rural New Zealand

The Manawatu floods of 2004 have had significant, long-lasting social consequences. This paper draws on findings from a series of detailed surveys of 39 farm households directly affected by the floods and 17 individuals directly involved in managing the flood recovery programme. The nature of the impact on rural families highlights how the 'hollowing out' of rural New Zealand has changed the capacity of rural communities to respond to natural hazards and increased their sense of isolation. In addition, the floods exposed the vulnerability of rural communities. This is shown to have implications for policies designed to build resilience and improve responses to adverse events, including the need to support local, community initiatives on self-reliance and mutual support. Approaches to manage better long-term flood risks should be designed within a context of ongoing rural decline that has compromised the health of both individuals and communities.     

湖北省水患防治对策研究

湖北省的洪涝灾害受全球尺度和流域尺度的多种因素的影响。全球尺度因素是指全球性的气候异常，流域尺度因素是指不利的自然条件和人类对自然环境与自然资源的不合理开发利用等方面。现阶段所采用的治水对策，即生态措施和工程措施，存在明显的局限性，不能彻底根治水患。通过系统分析湖北省水患原因和治水对策，提出以洪涝灾害承灾区的受因人口和受因财产的总数定量地表示洪涝灾害灾情的指标，该指标与灾情的对应关系明确且简明易得，为治水对策提供了更合理的依据。在此基础上，论述了“提高洪涝灾害承灾区的城市化水平、鼓励抗洪新技术和新机制的开发利用以及加强溃堤后的应对策略研究”等治水对策的必要性、合理性和可行性。     

Chronic institutional failure and enhanced vulnerability to flash‐floods in the Cuenca Altadel Río Lerma,Mexico

The dominant paradigm in disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies has been seriously contested because of its reliance on interventions based on technocratic expertise. In the Mexican context, the influence of informal practices such as clientelism and cartelisation of the political system produces environmental degradation and vulnerability to disasters within the communities in the study site. This paper contributes to understanding of failed institutional processes and parallel practices that intensify vulnerability to disasters by contrasting the discourses of agents within a peri‐urban community in central Mexico. Employing the Situational Analysis Approach as a methodological framework, the study identifies divergent views and practices within the community, leading to different responses to disasters and to different perceptions regarding institutional performance. In addition, it finds that institutional decision‐making, based only on scientific and technical expertise, has resulted in unintended consequences that influence ongoing vulnerability to floods in the site under review.     

Impact of climatic shocks on child human capital: evidence from young lives data

This study attempts to assess the impact of two different climatic shocks, drought and excessive rainfall/flood, as perceived by households on child human capital across four countries: Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam – countries with diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Human capital, in this context, subsumes both child learning and health outcomes. The data source is the Young Lives Study and cross-sectional household data on the older cohort of children (between 14 and 16 years of age) are utilized, for the year 2009. The enrolment rate, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Cloze test and Math test scores are used as proxies for child learning outcomes. The health outcome variables being studied are the WHO-defined Body Mass Index z-scores and Height for Age z-scores. The overall objective is to study heterogeneity in responses to shock in terms of the development of human capital across the set of countries considered. Additionally, the study elaborates on the role of institutional help, during crisis, and the role of household characteristics in buffering these climatic shocks.     

Operationalizing risk perception and preparedness behavior research for a multi-hazard context

Increasingly, citizens are being asked to take a more active role in disaster risk reduction (DRR), as decentralization of hazard governance has shifted greater responsibility for hazard preparedness actions onto individuals. Simultaneously, the taxonomy of hazards considered for DRR has expanded to include medical and social crises alongside natural hazards. Risk perception research emerged to support decision-makers with understanding how people characterize and evaluate different hazards to anticipate behavioral response and guide risk communication. Since its inception, the risk perception concept has been incorporated into many behavioral theories, which have been applied to examine preparedness for numerous hazard types. Behavioral theories have had moderate success in predicting or explaining preparedness behaviors; however, they are typically applied to a single hazard type and there is a gap in understanding which theories (if any) are suited for examining multiple hazard types simultaneously. This paper first reviews meta-analyses of behavioral theories to better understand performance. Universal lessons learnt are summarized for survey design. Second, theoretically based preparedness studies for floods, earthquakes, epidemics, and terrorism are reviewed to assess the conceptual requirements for a ‘multi-hazard’ preparedness approach. The development of an online preparedness self-assessment and learning platform is discussed.     

1998年长江流域洪水灾害成因分析

通过实测气象,水文数据分析和洪水期雷达卫星影像判读,论述了１９９８年长江流域洪水的雨情,水情和灾情的主要特征,并与１９９４年的相关数据进行了比较,可以认为,１９９８年长江流域洪水是由异常降水引起的,其洪水灾害的主要物征为高水位,长历时,大洪量,１９９８年长江干流洪水总量与１９５４年规模相当。     

An unforgettable event: a qualitative study of the 1997–98 El Niño in northern Peru

During the 1997–98 El Niño, Tumbes, Peru received 16 times the annual average rainfall. This study explores how Tumbes residents perceived the impact of the El Niño event on basic necessities, transport, health care, jobs and migration. Forty‐five individuals from five rural communities, some of which were isolated from the rest of Tumbes during the event, participated in five focus groups; six of these individuals constructed nutrition diaries. When asked about events in the past 20 years, participants identified the 1997–98 El Niño as a major negative event. The El Niño disaster situation induced a decrease in access to transport and health care and the rise in infectious diseases was swiftly contained. Residents needed more time to rebuild housing; recover agriculture, livestock and income stability; and return to eating sufficient animal protein. Although large‐scale assistance minimized effects of the disaster, residents needed more support. Residents' perspectives on their risk of flooding should be considered in generating effective assistance policies and programmes.     

Crop adaptation processes to extreme floods in Bangladesh: a case study

This paper investigates farmers’ crop adaptation processes in response to three recent devastating floods in Islampur, a case-study area in rural Bangladesh. The paper reports a multi-method research project which comprised a questionnaire survey, focus-group discussions and interviews with agricultural block supervisors. The author analyses three recent severe floods in Bangladesh, occurring in 1988, 1995 and 1998, and reviews the adaptation techniques and strategies embraced by the same group of farmers in order to survive the more devastating inundations that occur from time to time. The study concluded that vulnerable farmers are highly resilient and, with appropriate support, their adjustments can be sustainable. This enquiry showed that in the face of climate change both the inclusion of autonomous adaptations into planning and policy-making and the enhancement and support of community-based adaptation can be effective in ensuring the survival of riverine farming systems. This case study can be considered as a key reference case in regard to vulnerable locations in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna mega-delta basin, particularly in respect to Bangladesh.