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"A radical Muslim group has dedicated itself to the restoration of the Caliphate, a global Muslim empire, and will stop at nothing, including assassination and terrorism, to reach its goal. Steve Church is just a US businessman in Paris. He never expected to be recruited by the CIA as an undercover operative. But now, with his life on the line and with a beautiful woman as part of the cover, Steve is on his way to North Africa--and the terrorists' Saharan headquarters--in a whirlwind adventure that will change the politics of the Middle East"--P. [4] of cover. ; Community no. - 040030. ; Location map on cover. ; "November 1979." ; Title from cover. ; Includes bibliographical references (page 17). ; "A radical Muslim group has dedicated itself to the restoration of the Caliphate, a global Muslim empire, and will stop at nothing, including assassination and terrorism, to reach its goal. Steve Church is just a US businessman in Paris. He never expected to be recruited by the CIA as an undercover operative. But now, with his life on the line and with a beautiful woman as part of the cover, Steve is on his way to North Africa--and the terrorists' Saharan headquarters--in a whirlwind adventure that will change the politics of the Middle East"--P. [4] of cover. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Abstract. The increasing number and severity of floods, driven by phenomena such as urbanization, deforestation, subsidence and climate change, create a growing need for accurate and timely flood maps. In this paper we present and evaluate a method to create deterministic and probabilistic flood maps from Twitter messages that mention locations of flooding. A deterministic flood map created for the December 2015 flood in the city of York (UK) showed good performance (F(2) =  0.69; a statistic ranging from 0 to 1, with 1 expressing a perfect fit with validation data). The probabilistic flood maps we created showed that, in the York case study, the uncertainty in flood extent was mainly induced by errors in the precise locations of flood observations as derived from Twitter data. Errors in the terrain elevation data or in the parameters of the applied algorithm contributed less to flood extent uncertainty. Although these maps tended to overestimate the actual probability of flooding, they gave a reasonable representation of flood extent uncertainty in the area. This study illustrates that inherently uncertain data from social media can be used to derive information about flooding.

New planning policy in England and Wales should direct future development away from areas of high flood risk, but it is inevitable that some development will be necessary in places that flood, albeit with a low or residual risk. As part of the hierarchy of flood mitigation measures, a growing consideration promoted by Government, planners and insurers is to design and construct these new dwellings so they are more resistant or resilient to flood damage. Flood resilient repairs have also been promoted for many years for existing properties that suffer from flooding. These approaches are particularly important since climate change is likely to bring with it an increased flood risk. HR Wallingford took a key role within a research consortium that produced fresh guidance on 'Improving the flood performance of new buildings'. The report, published in May 2007, was jointly funded by Communities and Local Government and Defra/Environment Agency. Part of the research involved the laboratory testing of materials and construction assemblies at HR Wallingford under appropriate flood conditions. Results on water penetration and drying ability have provided new information to corroborate previous opinion, both 'anecdotal' and expert. This paper outlines the various stages in the production of this new guidance document, which in addition to the laboratory testing also undertook a comprehensive literature review, including information from North America, the Netherlands and Australia. The guidance manual provides information on flood avoidance and resistance measures but it is mainly concerned with flood resilient design and construction. Flood resilient construction has clear benefits. It can limit damage to the fabric of a building and minimise the time during which families are without their home. As a result it can help to reduce the stress and anxiety that flooding can cause.

Climate change is expected to worsen the negative effects of natural disasters like floods. The negative impacts, however, can be mitigated by individuals' adjustments through migration and relocation behaviors. Previous literature has identified flood risk as one significant driver in relocation decisions, but no prior study examines the effect of the National Flood Insurance Program's voluntary program—the Community Rating System (CRS)—on residential location choice. This article fills this gap and tests the hypothesis that flood risk and the CRS‐creditable flood control activities affect residential location choices. We employ a two‐stage sorting model to empirically estimate the effects. In the first stage, individuals' risk perception and preference heterogeneity for the CRS activities are considered, while mean effects of flood risk and the CRS activities are estimated in the second stage. We then estimate heterogeneous marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for the CRS activities by category. Results show that age, ethnicity and race, educational attainment, and prior exposure to risk explain risk perception. We find significant values for the CRS‐creditable mitigation activities, which provides empirical evidence for the benefits associated with the program. The marginal WTP for an additional credit point earned for public information activities, including hazard disclosure, is found to be the highest. Results also suggest that water amenities dominate flood risk. Thus, high amenity values may increase exposure to flood risk, and flood mitigation projects should be strategized in coastal regions accordingly.

AbstractDuring the last twenty‐five years, new approaches to the appraisal of flood‐alleviation investment have developed. This paper (a) identifies some of the key data inputs to this process, (b) evaluates the impact of these on decision choices, and (c) explores the issues concerning the relationship between flood losses and flood probability.

AbstractPrior to Easter 1998, the 1947 floods were the reference events for flood‐risk management in many catchments throughout England and Wales. However, Easter flood levels were generally higher than those of 1947 in the river systems draining an area of about 5000 km2, bounded by Bedford in the east, Evesham in the west, Peterborough in the north, and Oxford in the south.The paper describes the background to the floods and the independent review, and outlines the lessons which emerged from the Easter 1998 flood experiences, particularly in relation to flood‐plain management, hydrometry and flood forecasting and warning.

Human settlements have grown near watercourses since ancient times. Water supply, irrigation, navigation, wastewater conveyance and city defense are some of the uses that were responsible for this choice. Even floods played an important role, favoring the soil fertilization. Man-made actions, however, especially in urban watersheds, significantly modify the natural water cycle, increasing the magnitude of floods and their potential damages. Consequently, flood damages are one of the most important issues to be dealt with in the present days. Several different studies show that floods are one of the most important natural hazards, with several losses, both in terms of lives and money. Particularly in urban areas, the amplification of floods may cause important economic losses and lead to critical social risks to the cities and their population, when inundation reaches the built environment. This situation is becoming more frequent each day. Recent history shows that urbanization is an inevitable trend and, today, the most part of the world population lives in cities.It is difficult, however, to adequately manage urban flood problems, because flood risk and flood costs are not easy to quantify. Traditionally, flood risk and flood cost assessments face difficulties due to the subjective nature of these evaluations and to the inexistence of standardized methodologies.This book tries to show different techniques and approaches to help in treating flood problems. Chapters 1 and 2 show simplified mathematical modeling of floods and results of multifunctional landscape flood control measures in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The remaining book chapters present remedial works against debris after floods in Venezuela and Measures for Mitigation of Flood areas in Japan. There are also presented studies related with Flood Risk Assessment and Management in

AbstractThis paper describes some of the latest developments in real‐time fluvial flood‐forecasting systems which utilise quantitative weather radar information. Rain‐gauge, flow‐measuring stations, weather radar and other sources of information are fully integrated by the real‐time flood‐forecasting system and provide flood warnings for civil protection. The systems have been commissioned in various regions within the UK and are undergoing continuous development in conjunction with the UK water industry and through close involvement with various European partners via the auspices of the European Union.

This volume is the first of a series the Publisher decided to launch to cover different aspects related to Safety and Security Engineering in order to reach a comprehensive view on risk mitigation. The volume is devoted to floods, as one-third of the annual natural disasters and economic losses, and more than half of the respective victims are flood-related. A burgeoning global population and growing wealth, particularly in the last two or three decades, have increased the risk and the demand for protection from flooding. These features, together with climate change predictions and urban development, are affecting the way flood risk is managed. Knowledge and scientific tools play a role of paramount importance in the strain of coping with flooding problems, along with the capacity building in the context of political and administrative framework. Therefore, governments need to establish clear institutional, financial and social mechanisms and processes for flood risk management in order to ensure the safety of people and property and, thereby, contribute to both flood defence and sustainable development. The book covers the following topics: Risk assessment; Mathematical models for flood propagation; Effect of topographic data resolution; Social and psychological aspects; Decision making and management; Legislations and directives; Alternatives in flood protection; Response and recovery; Damages and economic - related problems; Case studies

Flood alert! -- What is a flood? -- The water cycle -- Creating the flood -- River floods -- Coastal floods -- Snowmelt -- Aftermath -- Designing flood protection -- Engineering marvels -- Natural flood protection -- Studying water -- Floods and climate change -- Flood safety tips

"Explore the devastation left behind by fires and floods though these dramatic stories. Clear text emphasizes scientific efforts to better understand how to prepare for and prevent fires and floods, while appropriately high-impact visuals keep readers engaged"--

Coping with the growing impacts of flooding in EU countries, a paradigm shift in flood management can be observed, moving from safety-based towards riskbased approaches and holistic perspectives. Flood resilience is a common denominator of most of the approaches. In this article, we present the 'Flood Resilience Rose' (FRR), a management tool to promote harmonised action towards flood resilience in European regions and beyond. The FRR is a result of a two-step process. First, based on scientific concepts as well as analysis of relevant policy documents, we identified three 'levels of operation'. The first level refers to the EU Floods Directive and an extended multi-layer safety approach, comprising the four different layers of protection, prevention, preparedness and recovery, and related measures to be taken. This level is not independent but depends both on the institutional (second level) and the wider (third level) context. Second, we used surveys, semi-structured interviews and group discussions during workshops with experts from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to validate the definitions and the FRR's practical relevance. The presented FRR is thus the result of rigorous theoretical and practical consideration and provides a tool capable to strengthen flood risk management practice.