The national body has recently approved the flood hazard maps; this is an important moment for the advancement of the project and, more generally, a concrete step towards flood risk mitigation in Albania
In order to mitigate the flood risk, one of the most important elements to know is which areas, on a given territory, are at higher risk. Therefore, as part of the PRO NEWS project, dedicated to supporting Albania in the process of strengthening flood prevention, CIMA Research Foundation researchers conducted a series of analyses with the aim of identifying flood risk areas nationwide and creating a flood hazard map for those where the risk is greatest. Both assessments were recently approved by the Albanian National Water Council, marking a first and concrete step for prevention activities.
Started in 2017 and funded by the European Union, the PRO NEWS project is coordinated by the Italian Civil Protection Department and aims to support Albanian civil protection in flood prevention and response. Among the areas of intervention of the project, in fact, there is both the implementation of the legislative and institutional framework concerning the management of floods and civil protection, and the realization of hazard and risk maps. The second one is dedicated to the development of risk maps, according to the Floods Directive of the European Union, for five of the main national water basins.
Within the framework of the latter activity, CIMA Research Foundation carried out an analysis in 2019, in collaboration with the Albanian Water Resources Management Agency (AMBU), the Institute of GeoSciences, Energy, Water and Environment (IGEWE), the River Basin Councils Ministry of Agriculture Rural Develompment and Water Administration (MARDWA) and the State Authority for Geospacial Information (ASIG). The work led to the development of a preliminary flood risk assessment over the entire Albanian territory and to the identification of Areas of Potential Significant Flood Risk (APSFR) at the national level.
The assessment identified 398 kilometers of river as high risk and 97 km at very high risk. It is on these stretches, of greatest interest to stakeholders, belonging to the Ishem, Erzen, Semani, Shkumbini and Vjosa rivers (the five main Albanian waterways), that the creation of the Flood Hazard Mapping has been concentrated. Thanks to high-resolution digital elevation models, field surveys, digital reconstruction of bridges and the use of meteorological data combined with hydraulic modeling, that hazard maps have been defined. They identify the level that water can reach in each point during flood events of different magnitude.
The APSFRs and hazard maps have recently been approved by the Albanian National Water Council (an interministerial body coordinated by the Prime Minister) and will be published on the ASIG’s geoportal. This approval, together with their regulatory adoption, represents not only a significant advancement of the PRO NEWS project, but also a concrete advancement for the prevention and mitigation of flood risk.