ABSTRACT
Floods can cause catastrophic damage to the built environment, with bridges being washed away, roads becoming rivers and raw sewage flowing among the contaminated mix that makes up flood water. When floods affect critical infrastructure, the impacts can cascade from the local to the national and international scale. Materials affected by flood water will often swell, distort, delaminate, slump or lose structural integrity. Prior to and during a flood event, residents can be required to relocate to temporary accommodation in areas of lower flood risk. Floods can also contaminate food and fresh drinking water sources and lead to a variety of illnesses. Once flood waters have retreated, the residue and deluge that remains is often contaminated, pungent and seemingly all-pervading. As the climate changes and flood extents and depths increase, a greater number of properties will be exposed to and affected by flooding.
