Development of risk assessment methods for cloudburst damages

The proposed project aims to develop methods for assessment of damages and costs caused by cloudbursts in Sweden. In the field of disaster risk management, risks are often seen as a combination of hazard and vulnerabilities.

Applied on cloudbursts, the hazard is represented by rainfall amount and -intensity and the resulting water level, while the vulnerability is determined by the assets in the area affected by the cloudburst, such as buildings and infrastructure.Geographical factors such as the shape of the terrain play a role because the topography determines where and how fast the water flows.

The extent of the damage does not depend solely on the rainfall itself; the same rainfall amount and intensity can cause different damages depending on where the cloudburst occurs.

Prior research on rainfall damages in Sweden mainly focused on the hazard but in this project the vulnerabilities of the built environment will be in focus. How do vulnerabilities of different building types differ and what role do geographical factors play?

We will develop quantitative damage models for cloudburst damage in Sweden bringing together previously developed empirical approaches for cloudburst damage with new expert knowledge from societal actors. Developed methods and models will be possible to transfer between regions in Sweden. We will use freely available open data, when possible.

The project results can be used as decision support for risk reducing measures and climate adaptation.