Floods and the COVID-19 pandemic-A new double hazard problem.

The coincidence of floods and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a genuine multihazard problem. Since the beginning of 2020, many regions around the World have been experiencing this double hazard of serious flooding and the pandemic. There have been 70 countries with flood events occurring after detection of the country's first COVID-19 case and hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated. The main objective of this article is to assess challenges that arise from complex intersections between the threat multipliers and to provide guidance on how to address them effectively. We consider the limitations of our knowledge including "unknown unknowns." During emergency evacuation, practicing social distancing can be very difficult. However, people are going to take action to respond to rising waters, even if it means breaking quarantine. This is an emergency manager's nightmare scenario: two potentially serious emergencies happening at once. During this unprecedented year (2020), we are experiencing one of the most challenging flood seasons we have seen in a while. Practical examples of issues and guides for managing floods and COVID-19 are presented. We feel that a new approach is needed in dealing with multiple hazards. Our main messages are: a resilience approach is needed whether in response to floods or a pandemic; preparation is vital, in addition to defense; the responsible actors must be prepared with actions plans and command structure, while the general population must be involved in the discussions so that they are aware of the risk and the reasons for the actions they must take. This article is categorized under:Engineering Water > Methods.

A spatial framework to explore needs and opportunities for interoperable urban flood management.

Managing current and future urban flood risks must consider the connection (i.e. interoperability) between existing (and new) infrastructure systems to manage stormwater (pluvial flooding). Yet, due to a lack of systematic approaches to identify interoperable flood management interventions, opportunities are missed to combine investments of existing infrastructure (e.g. drainage, roads, land use and buildings) with blue-green infrastructure (e.g. sustainable urban drainage systems, green roofs, green spaces). In this study, a spatial analysis framework is presented combining hydrodynamic modelling with spatial information on infrastructure systems to provide strategic direction for systems-level urban flood management (UFM). The framework is built upon three categories of data: (i) flood hazard areas (i.e. characterize the spatial flood problem); (ii) flood source areas (i.e. areas contributing the most to surface flooding); (iii) the interoperable potential of different systems (i.e. which infrastructure systems can contribute to water management functions). Applied to the urban catchment of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (UK), the study illustrates the novelty of combining spatial data sources in a systematic way, and highlights the spatial (dis)connectivity in terms of flood source areas (where most of the flood management intervention is required) and the benefit areas (where most of the reduction in flooding occurs). The framework provides a strategic tool for managing stormwater pathways from an interoperable perspective that can help city-scale infrastructure development that considers UFM across multiple systems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Urban flood resilience'.

Evaluating the operational resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises to flooding using a computational modelling and simulation approach: a case study of the 2007 flood in Tewkesbury.

The resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to disruptive events is significant as this highly prevalent category of business forms the economic backbone in developed countries. This article provides an overview of the application of a computational modelling and simulation approach to evaluate SMEs' operational resilience to flooding based on combinations of structural and procedural mitigation measures that may be implemented to improve their premises' resistance to flooding and safeguard their business continuity. The approach integrates flood modelling and simulation with agent-based modelling and simulation (ABMS) within a modelled geographical environment. SMEs are modelled as agents based on findings of semi-structured interviews with SMEs that have experienced flooding or are at risk of flooding. In this paper, the ABMS has been applied to a new case study of the major flood event of 2007 in Tewkesbury. Furthermore, to enable an evaluation of the operational resilience of manufacturing SMEs in terms of the relative effectiveness of flood mitigation measures, a new coefficient based on production loss is introduced. Results indicate structural mitigation measures are more effective than procedural measures. While this result is intuitive, the approach provides a means of evaluating the relative effectiveness of combinations of mitigation measures that SMEs may implement to enhance their operational resilience to flooding. This article is part of the theme issue 'Urban flood resilience'.

Conceptual framework for the study of food waste generation and prevention in the hospitality sector.

Food waste has significant detrimental economic, environmental and social impacts. The magnitude and complexity of the global food waste problem has brought it to the forefront of the environmental agenda; however, there has been little research on the patterns and drivers of food waste generation, especially outside the household. This is partially due to weaknesses in the methodological approaches used to understand such a complex problem. This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework to identify and explain the patterns and drivers of food waste generation in the hospitality sector, with the aim of identifying food waste prevention measures. This conceptual framework integrates data collection and analysis methods from ethnography and grounded theory, complemented with concepts and tools from industrial ecology for the analysis of quantitative data. A case study of food waste generation at a hotel restaurant in Malaysia is used as an example to illustrate how this conceptual framework can be applied. The conceptual framework links the biophysical and economic flows of food provisioning and waste generation, with the social and cultural practices associated with food preparation and consumption. The case study demonstrates that food waste is intrinsically linked to the way we provision and consume food, the material and socio-cultural context of food consumption and food waste generation. Food provisioning, food consumption and food waste generation should be studied together in order to fully understand how, where and most importantly why food waste is generated. This understanding will then enable to draw detailed, case specific food waste prevention plans addressing the material and socio-economic aspects of food waste generation.