Author(s)

RADUŠKA CUPAÆ, EDIN ZAHIROVIÆ, VUJADIN BLAGOJEVIÆ

Abstract

The primary task of this research is the development of flood damage functions in order to demonstrate the level of damage caused to household assets and agriculture by floods in the Vrbas river basin in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Damage functions describe the connection between the flood depth and the value of flood-affected assets and potential damage. In the process of developing the function, information on representative buildings viewed from the perspective of civil engineering and electrical machinery, as well as representative building with its movables, were used. Results of the damage functions relate to synthetic damage that is not the result of registered damage in the past. It consists of the following steps: (1) selection of representative residential buildings and an assessment of their market value and the value of any movables, (2) determination of the characteristics of flood levels above ground level through hydrology and the use of hydraulic models, (3) expert assessment of the resulting damage in accordance with the specific flood levels in those buildings, and (4) determination of the value of the damage caused to the buildings taking into consideration the increase in damage in relation to the flood depth. The total agricultural flood damage in the basin was assessed as the result of the sum of losses in the floodplain based on the most represented crops. The total cost of the flood damage was obtained by multiplying the losses incurred because of the reduction in yields expressed in Euro/ha and based on the surface area of crops in the floodplain (ha). Damage functions were used to calculate the potential flood damage in the Vrbas river basin. The potential amount of damages calculated for households and agriculture was EUR 47 mil. It was in accordance with recorded actual flood damages from 2014 in the Vrbas river basin, so they can be used for future analyses.

Keywords

damage function, flood depth, potential damage, Vrbas river basin, household assets