# A Practical Approach on Reducing the Flood Impact: A Case Study from Romania
## 4 Conclusions  
This study analyzed the risk of flooding in the Dumbravesti area located on the Varbilau River catchment (Romania). It addresses the following question: Does the rail embankment built in the Sfarleanc village favor the flood apparition? To answer this question, we built flood hazard maps for three scenarios, using the capabilities of ArcGIS 10.2.2, HEC-RAS 6.2, HEC GeoRAS, and the RAS Mapper extension. Since the investigation provided an affirmative answer, we suggested possible solutions to reduce the flood impact on the life and economic activity of the population in the Varbilau catchment. This study's results agree with those of other scientists, who show that anthropic constructions can favor the apparition and propagation of hazards. Here are the main findings of the research. * Simulation of the flooding apparition with an exceedance probability of 1% indicates that the study is affected by floods in the actual conditions of the presence of a bridge over the Varbilau River with an opening of 100 m and a rail embankment;
* Simulation with the same return period (100 years) in two scenarios (Scenario 2 and the intermediary one) indicates that enlarging the bridge opening will result in a significant diminishing of the hazard effects;
* In Scenario 2 (a bridge with 10 pillars and an opening of 280 m), the number of flooded buildings would be about 3.8-times lower, the surface of flooded buildings would be 5.80-times lower, and the flooded land surface would be about 1.73-times lower than in Scenario 1 (actual situation);
* In the intermediary scenario (a bridge with seven pillars and an opening of 200 m), the number of flooded buildings and their affected surface are 2.26 and 3.15 times lower, respectively;
* In monetary terms, the damages will be 5.5 (3.19)-times lower in Scenario 1 (intermediary scenario) than in the actual situation;
* Enlarging the bridge opening and shortening the embankment will significantly reduce the surfaces and buildings affected in the case of a flood with a 100-year return period. Still, the opening of the bridge and the optimal number of pillars to be built must be determined by the structural engineers and bridge designers, taking into account not only the technical feasibility but also the economic efficiency that must be deeper investigated in the future. From a practical viewpoint, the same methodology can be applied to other watersheds with the same characteristics, such as shape (elongated), vegetation, and geographic characteristics. This investigation also fills a gap in the knowledge related to the flooding extent in the Varbilau basin not covered by other research and that can be used by the authorities for preparing action plans in the case of flood or even to eliminate the risk. It was shown that the bridge opening influences the extent of the flooded surfaces (the higher the opening, the lower the impact on the structure is), but further research will attempt to build a mathematical model, which describes the correlation between the surface of the flooded zone (as an explained variable) on some physical and geographical factors that characterize the study area and the water flow characteristics. **Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, N.-C.P. and A.B. ; methodology, N.-C.P. and A.B. ; software, N.-C.P. ; validation, N.-C.P. and A.B. ; formal analysis, A.B. ; investigation, N.-C.P. and A.B. ; resources, N.-C.P. and A.B. ; data curation, N.-C.P. ; writing--original draft preparation, N.-C.P. and A.B. ; writing--review and editing, A.B. ; visualization, N.-C.P. ; supervision, A.B. ; project administration, A.B. ; funding acquisition, N.-C.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. **Funding:** This research was funded by the Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, Romania, by the grant PID 2025. **Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable. **Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable. **Data Availability Statement:** Data will be available on request.