A Multi-Criteria Analysis Approach to Identify Flood Risk Asset Damage Hotspots in Western Australia

Abstract

Climate change is contributing to extreme weather conditions, which transform the scale and degree of flood events. Therefore, it is important for relevant government agencies to effectively respond to both extreme climate conditions and their impacts by providing more efficient asset management strategies. Although international research projects on water-sensitive urban design and rural drainage design have provided partial solutions to this problem, road networks commonly serve unique combinations of urban-rural residential and undeveloped areas; these areas often have diverse hydrology, geology, and climates. Resultantly, applying a one-size-fits-all solution to asset management is ineffective. This paper focuses on data-driven flood modelling that can be used to mitigate or prevent floodwater-related damage in Western Australia. In particular, a holistic and coherent view of data-driven asset management is presented and multi-criteria analysis (MCA) is used to define the high-risk hotspots for asset damage in Western Australia. These state-wide hotspots are validated using road closure data obtained from the relevant government agency. The proposed approach offers important insights with regard to factors influencing the risk of damage in the stormwater management system.