This uniquely comprehensive guide for engineers and scientists demonstrates the feasibility of an integrated approach that combines resilient infrastructure with adaptive flood risk management.

The book offers practical guidance on managing existing flood defences and designing and planning new ones. Key legislation is discussed together with insights into emerging flood risk management concepts and future developments in policy and practice. The authors address the core concepts of flood risk management and equip readers with the tools and techniques needed to better assess the reliability and adaptability of defences and – ultimately – make robust risk-based decisions.

Flood Risk is:

• single resource covering fluvial, coastal and urban issues


• globally applicable, highlighting the flood risk management lessons learned from international case studies


• authored by an expert group of practising engineers and academic specialists


• extensively referenced with sources of further information on all topics

Placing flood defence infrastructure within the context of a broader flood risk management approach, this key text is essential reading for engineers, scientists, and government and local authority stakeholders who must meet the increasingly complex challenges of flood risk, both now and in the future.

Paul Sayers heads the Floods Group at HR Wallingford and has worked on a variety of river and coastal engineering and management projects world-wide. He leads the development of risk-based methods at HR and continues to be closely involved in the on-going development of a range of advanced numerical simulation models and system analysis tools, from the next generation of broad scale models to detailed site specific models.