The Levee Effect: Flood Risk & Social Vulnerability (Invited Presentation)

Extreme rainfall during Hurricane Harvey triggered record water levels in Houston, TX and caused a set of flood-control reservoirs to overflow into surrounding neighborhoods. To mitigate the risk of catastrophic failure, an unprecedented amount of water was released from the reservoirs, thereby inundating thousands of businesses and homes. In this presentation, we explore the intersection of extreme flooding and social dynamics through the lens of the levee effect, whereby urban development and flood-control systems intertwine to impact flood risk. We apply a vulnerability framework that combines exposure to extreme flooding with selected elements of a populations’ coping capacity to better understand the complex feedbacks between hydrometeorological extremes, social vulnerability, and flood mitigation solutions.