Risk assessment from floodings in the rivers of Albania

Abstract

Flooding is a natural phenomenon in Albania. The floods are flashy and flood - waters occupy the flood plain; in the biggest rivers, close to the river mouth area, these waters inundate the flood plain for several weeks.Attempts have been made to alleviate flood situation in Albania by building protective dykes and creating upstream storage. Although many of these measures have been beneficial, they also served toencourage further encroachment upon river floodplains, thereby raising the potential for flood damage.Actually, more than half of the Albanian population lives very close to the rivermouth areas, where the riskof flooding is higher. The structural solution is only a partial one; the only long - term solution consists ofkeeping flood-vulnerable development and uses out of the flood plain. In order to evaluate the flood potential,a statistical study in national scale was carried out. The peak discharges for different return periods are computed using statistical method and a map of the flood potential for the country is designed. Those constructions had a relevant protective role during the flooding of the winter 1970-71. Non structural measures consist of measures undertaken for flood warning or flood forecasting or different studies likeflood-mapping, estimation of inundation risk and inundation zones and possible damages etc.