Flood Control Management in Built Environment

The word “Flooding” is very common now and a major cause of concern in many parts of the world because of its dynamic effect on the lives of humans, animals, properties, and other assets. A flood is due to wet environmental conditions that cause the moisture content of the soil to rise much above the normal conditions and hence the water does not get absorbed and that results in the collection of water above the ground level. This has been discussed in the author’s article “Does Climate Change Impact our Environment?” ResearchGate/LinkedIn platforms, June 2021. Therein it is mentioned that“…with tropical areas like the Philippines with archipelagic locations, it is indeed that Climate Change impacting and suffers the entire environment. And as a consequence of this phenomenon, the cause of the flooding is more frequent and intense throughout the archipelagic terrain of the country due to the low pressure that has been developed in the Pacific Ocean especially whenever typhoons” occur. These elements, as well as heavy rain conditions, contribute to significant flooding occurring in cities and municipalities, the result in rising water levels in the drainage system because of water coming in from different sources of drainage connections and being let into rivers, streams, lakes, and sea. The water levels in those also consequently rise and many times go above the bank levels.Nobody can control Mother Nature; however, humans can minimize or mitigate the risks that can arise and cause floods, through careful studies and investigations of the affected areas and then draw up flood management plans. The flood control management plans could be either within the built environment or even outside it. It is advantageous while preparing the emergency flood management plan to incorporate the four phases of the process starting with planning for flood mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The four phases are used normally in planning for Disaster Resilience. Flooding mostly affects low-lying areas but could also affect others where the land use and drainage system are not thought of with a long-term view and planned properly