The consequences of floods are strongly influenced by human behaviour.
Human behaviour plays a large part in increasing the consequences of floods, on the one hand and in mitigating them, on the other hand.
Activities that increase the negative consequences of floods include:
– growth in population centres and production zones in floodable plains and other areas at risk that is the construction of housing in flood-risk areas (see. Fig. 2.1 c and Fig. 10).
– logging and destruction of vegetation, which sharply increase the negative impact of floods.
– obstruction of riverbeds.
– inadequate maintenance of hydraulic structures and lack of control.
– lack of proper maintenance of drainage in populated areas.
– the modification of riverbeds. For instance, in the mid-lower part of the Modena plain, the river length of Panaro and Secchia Rivers have been reduced to about 12% of their length by artificial meander cut-offs carried out since the 19th century to reduce flood hazard. In this way, along long stretches of their course, the rivers have assumed the aspect of artificial watercourses. Since the cut-offs did not adequately reduce flood hazard, “flow regulation systems” (see Fig. 9) were constructed to East and West of Modena (see Fig. 9). The morphology and evolution trend of the Panaro and Secchia Rivers have been conditioned by direct and indirect human activities over the past two centuries, which is similar to what has been recorded in other Italian rivers (Fig. 7)
Environmental impact resulting in climate change directly influences the consequences of floods , as it increases their intensity and in some cases can hinder potential prediction.
Human behaviour that mitigates flood consequences includes:
– development and implementation of national disaster prevention policies;
– building defensive installations;
– organisation of warning systems for the population concerning flood risks;
– development and maintenance of protection plans;
– implementation of risk-prevention training, in areas at risk of flooding;
– improvement of prediction systems;
– permanent monitoring.
