3 – Management and Safety of Flood Defense Systems

Abstract: Levees and flood defense systems in general, within which levees are essential components protect areas exposed to flood risk from floods originating from one or more sources (e.g. seas and/or rivers). This chapter discusses the limitations of flood defense systems in terms of protection and reliability. It also looks at performance assessment methods for flood defense systems and quantification of residual flood risk that enable improvement of flood defense management and of flood risk management in general. It may be useful to refer to Volume 1 of this book for more information on levees and flood defense systems.