FLOOD HAZARD MAPPING TO PROTECT IMPORTANT HABITATS
Authors: Stoyanova Vesela 
Published: April 2024

Floods are one of the most devastating natural disasters that can lead to significant economic and environmental damage and even loss of lives. Flood hazard mapping is one of the measures of disaster risk reduction and becoming a more important function in conserving biological diversity and protected areas now and future. Most of the research is focused on determining flood risk in urbanized areas. In this paper, the protected areas affected by potential floods are studied. Protected areas are according to a directive Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The selected study area is the Batova River catchment. A large part of it is a protected area under both directives and there are recorded a lot of significant floods. The software product HEC-RAS, version 6.0, was used to determine the flooded areas. Flood maps are created for three scenarios: 20-, 100- and 1000-years. The data used to simulate flash floods are precipitation from monitoring network of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), a Digital terrain model with pixel cell 6/6m from Military Geographical Service at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and land cover data from CORINE Land Cover 2018. As a result of the modeling, the inundated areas during rain with different return period have been determined. An analysis was made of the extent to which they affect the protected areas. This approach can also be applied to other watersheds. Based on these studies, an appropriate set of measures could be drawn up to protect these areas and the endangered species whose habitats fall within them and contribute to the preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans. By integrating floodplain management and wildlife conservation, such as the protection of habitat communities have the opportunity to reduce flood risk, and protect species and their habitat while enjoying the natural resources.Floods are one of the most devastating natural disasters that can lead to significant economic and environmental damage and even loss of lives. Flood hazard mapping is one of the measures of disaster risk reduction and becoming a more important function in conserving biological diversity and protected areas now and future. Most of the research is focused on determining flood risk in urbanized areas. In this paper, the protected areas affected by potential floods are studied. Protected areas are according to a directive Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The selected study area is the Batova River catchment. A large part of it is a protected area under both directives and there are recorded a lot of significant floods. The software product HEC-RAS, version 6.0, was used to determine the flooded areas. Flood maps are created for three scenarios: 20-, 100- and 1000-years. The data used to simulate flash floods are precipitation from monitoring network of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), a Digital terrain model with pixel cell 6/6m from Military Geographical Service at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and land cover data from CORINE Land Cover 2018. As a result of the modeling, the inundated areas during rain with different return period have been determined. An analysis was made of the extent to which they affect the protected areas. This approach can also be applied to other watersheds. Based on these studies, an appropriate set of measures could be drawn up to protect these areas and the endangered species whose habitats fall within them and contribute to the preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans. By integrating floodplain management and wildlife conservation, such as the protection of habitat communities have the opportunity to reduce flood risk, and protect species and their habitat while enjoying the natural resources.Floods are one of the most devastating natural disasters that can lead to significant economic and environmental damage and even loss of lives. Flood hazard mapping is one of the measures of disaster risk reduction and becoming a more important function in conserving biological diversity and protected areas now and future. Most of the research is focused on determining flood risk in urbanized areas. In this paper, the protected areas affected by potential floods are studied. Protected areas are according to a directive Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The selected study area is the Batova River catchment. A large part of it is a protected area under both directives and there are recorded a lot of significant floods. The software product HEC-RAS, version 6.0, was used to determine the flooded areas. Flood maps are created for three scenarios: 20-, 100- and 1000-years. The data used to simulate flash floods are precipitation from monitoring network of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), a Digital terrain model with pixel cell 6/6m from Military Geographical Service at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and land cover data from CORINE Land Cover 2018. As a result of the modeling, the inundated areas during rain with different return period have been determined. An analysis was made of the extent to which they affect the protected areas. This approach can also be applied to other watersheds. Based on these studies, an appropriate set of measures could be drawn up to protect these areas and the endangered species whose habitats fall within them and contribute to the preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans. By integrating floodplain management and wildlife conservation, such as the protection of habitat communities have the opportunity to reduce flood risk, and protect species and their habitat while enjoying the natural resources.Floods are one of the most devastating natural disasters that can lead to significant economic and environmental damage and even loss of lives. Flood hazard mapping is one of the measures of disaster risk reduction and becoming a more important function in conserving biological diversity and protected areas now and future. Most of the research is focused on determining flood risk in urbanized areas. In this paper, the protected areas affected by potential floods are studied. Protected areas are according to a directive Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The selected study area is the Batova River catchment. A large part of it is a protected area under both directives and there are recorded a lot of significant floods. The software product HEC-RAS, version 6.0, was used to determine the flooded areas. Flood maps are created for three scenarios: 20-, 100- and 1000-years. The data used to simulate flash floods are precipitation from monitoring network of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), a Digital terrain model with pixel cell 6/6m from Military Geographical Service at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and land cover data from CORINE Land Cover 2018. As a result of the modeling, the inundated areas during rain with different return period have been determined. An analysis was made of the extent to which they affect the protected areas. This approach can also be applied to other watersheds. Based on these studies, an appropriate set of measures could be drawn up to protect these areas and the endangered species whose habitats fall within them and contribute to the preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans. By integrating floodplain management and wildlife conservation, such as the protection of habitat communities have the opportunity to reduce flood risk, and protect species and their habitat while enjoying the natural resources.Floods are one of the most devastating natural disasters that can lead to significant economic and environmental damage and even loss of lives. Flood hazard mapping is one of the measures of disaster risk reduction and becoming a more important function in conserving biological diversity and protected areas now and future. Most of the research is focused on determining flood risk in urbanized areas. In this paper, the protected areas affected by potential floods are studied. Protected areas are according to a directive Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The selected study area is the Batova River catchment. A large part of it is a protected area under both directives and there are recorded a lot of significant floods. The software product HEC-RAS, version 6.0, was used to determine the flooded areas. Flood maps are created for three scenarios: 20-, 100- and 1000-years. The data used to simulate flash floods are precipitation from monitoring network of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), a Digital terrain model with pixel cell 6/6m from Military Geographical Service at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and land cover data from CORINE Land Cover 2018. As a result of the modeling, the inundated areas during rain with different return period have been determined. An analysis was made of the extent to which they affect the protected areas. This approach can also be applied to other watersheds. Based on these studies, an appropriate set of measures could be drawn up to protect these areas and the endangered species whose habitats fall within them and contribute to the preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans. By integrating floodplain management and wildlife conservation, such as the protection of habitat communities have the opportunity to reduce flood risk, and protect species and their habitat while enjoying the natural resources.Floods are one of the most devastating natural disasters that can lead to significant economic and environmental damage and even loss of lives. Flood hazard mapping is one of the measures of disaster risk reduction and becoming a more important function in conserving biological diversity and protected areas now and future. Most of the research is focused on determining flood risk in urbanized areas. In this paper, the protected areas affected by potential floods are studied. Protected areas are according to a directive Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The selected study area is the Batova River catchment. A large part of it is a protected area under both directives and there are recorded a lot of significant floods. The software product HEC-RAS, version 6.0, was used to determine the flooded areas. Flood maps are created for three scenarios: 20-, 100- and 1000-years. The data used to simulate flash floods are precipitation from monitoring network of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), a Digital terrain model with pixel cell 6/6m from Military Geographical Service at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and land cover data from CORINE Land Cover 2018. As a result of the modeling, the inundated areas during rain with different return period have been determined. An analysis was made of the extent to which they affect the protected areas. This approach can also be applied to other watersheds. Based on these studies, an appropriate set of measures could be drawn up to protect these areas and the endangered species whose habitats fall within them and contribute to the preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans. By integrating floodplain management and wildlife conservation, such as the protection of habitat communities have the opportunity to reduce flood risk, and protect species and their habitat while enjoying the natural resources.Floods are one of the most devastating natural disasters that can lead to significant economic and environmental damage and even loss of lives. Flood hazard mapping is one of the measures of disaster risk reduction and becoming a more important function in conserving biological diversity and protected areas now and future. Most of the research is focused on determining flood risk in urbanized areas. In this paper, the protected areas affected by potential floods are studied. Protected areas are according to a directive Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The selected study area is the Batova River catchment. A large part of it is a protected area under both directives and there are recorded a lot of significant floods. The software product HEC-RAS, version 6.0, was used to determine the flooded areas. Flood maps are created for three scenarios: 20-, 100- and 1000-years. The data used to simulate flash floods are precipitation from monitoring network of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), a Digital terrain model with pixel cell 6/6m from Military Geographical Service at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and land cover data from CORINE Land Cover 2018. As a result of the modeling, the inundated areas during rain with different return period have been determined. An analysis was made of the extent to which they affect the protected areas. This approach can also be applied to other watersheds. Based on these studies, an appropriate set of measures could be drawn up to protect these areas and the endangered species whose habitats fall within them and contribute to the preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans. By integrating floodplain management and wildlife conservation, such as the protection of habitat communities have the opportunity to reduce flood risk, and protect species and their habitat while enjoying the natural resources.