Author(s)

W. Kellens, P. Deckers, H. Saleh, W. Vanneuville, Ph. De Maeyer, G. Allaert & R. De Sutter

Abstract

In recent decades, the low-lying Flanders region (Belgium) has fallen victim to numerous flood events, causing substantial damage to buildings and infrastructure. In response to this, the Flemish government proposed a new approach that considers the level of risk as method of safety measurement. Using geographical information systems, this evolution has led to a comprehensive risk methodology, and more recently to the development of a flood risk assessment tool called LATIS. By estimating the potential damage and the number of casualties during a flood event, LATIS offers the possibility of performing risk analysis in a fast and effective way. This paper presents a brief overview of the currently used methodology for flood risk management in Flanders and its implementation in the LATIS tool. The usefulness of this new tool is demonstrated by a sequence of risk calculations, performed in the framework of climate change impacts on flood risk in Flanders. Keywords: flood risk analysis, GIS, Flanders, risk assessment tool, LATIS. 1 Introduction In recent decades, Flanders (northern part of Belgium) has suffered several river floods, causing substantial damage to buildings, roads, agricultural fields, etc. As Flanders is one of the most densely populated and industry-developed regions in

Keywords

flood risk analysis, GIS, Flanders, risk assessment tool, LATIS.