Floods in urban areas: the intervention zone of the polis program in Coimbra

Abstract

A considerable plan of hydraulic infrastructures and interventions has been programmed since the middle of last century for the Mondego River, the longest river with its basin totally developed in Portugal. Using a digital terrain model, specifically conceived for this study, and the detailed data collected during the recent flood events, a numerical model based on the one-dimensional Saint-Venant equations was validated. The same model was then used to model previous extreme flood events in order to determine maximum flood inundation levels associated to its estimated probability of occurrence and to produce high definition inundation maps to be used by Polis' architects and urban designers. Results of this study with emphasis on hydrological analysis and on the modelling work developed will be presented as an application to this recent case study.