Deconstructing urban flood damages: increasing the expressiveness of flood damage models combining a high level of detail with a broad attribute set

Climate change increases uncertainty regarding the frequency and severity of flood events, posing new challenges for urban areas often located along major rivers. Current flood damage assessment methods often ignore the level of differentiation found in the urban fabric; their level of detail is too coarse and limits possibilities of tailor-made solutions based on refined insights on the severity, distribution and horizon of expected impacts. As part of the Urban Flood Management project for the city of Dordrecht, the Netherlands, a flood damage assessment model was developed using a substantially higher level of detail than used in current practice. The model incorporates methods of analysis linking the spatial distribution of flood damages, flood damage composition, age of the building stock and a range of other attributes to gain a comprehensive view on the financial consequences of urban flooding. The output provides a foundation for integration of flood proofing schemes into urban development and/or redevelopment.