What are the implications of coastal Flooding? Video by Robert Nicholls.

Robert Nicholls holds a chair in Coastal Engineering in Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton. In this video he describes the implications of coastal flooding.

What are the implications of coastal flooding? Coastal flooding can be devastating, leading to severe disruption and economic damage, flooding of homes and personal trauma, and in the extreme loss of life as in 1953 on the east coast of England. To avoid these threats we have been building flood defenses for many centuries, and more recently moving to more integrated flood risk management. In Britain, defenses are now targeted to areas with high economic and social values, and the possibility of managed realignment (i.e., a planned retreat of the coastline) is considered, where appropriate. We also have near real time forecasts of sea levels, which provide robust warnings of potential floods, allowing coastal evacuation and the closure of defense structures such as the Thames Barrier. Planning and building regulations are also important, including flood resilience for new buildings or avoiding building in floodprone areas at all.