Coastal flooding in Southampton over the 21st century

Coastal flooding in Southampton over the 21st century

Nguyen, T.T.

Nicholls, R.J. (mentor)
Stive, M.J.F. (mentor)

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Section Hydraulic Engineering

CoMEM - Coastal and Marine Engineering and Management

2011-06-22

Sea level is rising across the UK and this is expected to accelerate and to increase coastal flood risk over the 21st century. Southampton is one of the busiest and most important national ports, but coastal flooding has not been studied extensively before. This dissertation aims to investigate the likelihood of coastal flooding in Southampton during the 21st century with and without the effect of sea-level rise using the ‘bath-tub’ and LISFLOOD-FP methods. Sensitivity of LISFLOOD-FP and discussion of datasets and methodology are performed to estimate uncertainty in LISFLOOD-FP simulations for Southampton. At present, flooding ‘hotspots’ are located in Priory Road, Millbank, the Cross-house area, Riverside Park, Woodmill Lane, Industrial Park (Bitterne Manor), Weston Shore and The Test Nature Reserve (commercial, industrial areas and open spaces). 1 in 250-year and 1 in 1000-year events could cause deep flooding on a small scale at Millbank, Weston Shore and Test Lane according to LISFLOOD-FP simulations. Under sea-level rise, extreme water levels will be higher and occur more frequently. For Southampton the return periods of extreme water levels may decrease by about ten times for a 0.2m rise in sea level. Future coastal floodplains significantly expand on the west side of the River under 0.4m sea-level rise, and in the Docks with 0.4-1.0m sea-level rise during 1 in 250 year event. A preliminary evaluation on the impact of flooding on coastal infrastructure is made. LISFLOOD-FP results for the 250-year event show approximately 500 and 1,000 buildings could be located in floodplains for 2010, and 0.2m sea-level rise, respectively. 12-13km of railways and 4-7km of A roads could be disrupted by 0.4-0.6m sea-level rise. Structural and non-structural solutions are also proposed for Southampton, including a tidal gate, water-proof technologies, flood forecasting and warning systems, etc. to adapt to coastal flooding over the 21st century.

coastal flooding
Southampton
sea level rise
inundation
LISFLOOD-FP model

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:791886bf-ef55-43a7-8fd9-22b56af27a3d

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2011 Nguyen, T.T.