Category: Levees

Levees: an important and visible issue in next ICOLD 2025 congress in Chengdu (China)

Last week during the ICOLD General Assembly in Gothenburg, the questions for the next ICOLD Congress in 2025 in Chengdu (China) were voted. You can see the wording of the four questions, including sub-questions in the following pictures; levees have a large place and great visibility. This is a great success for ICOLD TC LE and …

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An original solution for emergency repair of a breach in a levee. What do you think of it?

Sometimes original solutions are tried to repair a levee in an emergency situation or a breach. Here’s such an example https://www.thedrive.com/news/california-farmers-plunged-their-pickups-into-a-broken-levee-to-stop-a-flood-it-worked Now this raises many comments and questions. I’d like to see yours, please reply to this post.  

Register now for the POLDER2C’s Closing Conference!

We keep the coastal area of Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the UK safe by adapting to climate change  Dear invitee of Polder2C’s, We are delighted to invite you to attend the Polder2C’s Closing Conference, which will be held from the 7th of March until the 9th of March 2023 in Antwerp. We look forward to welcoming you …

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Webinar on emergency repairs of levees – A call for speakers

The ICOLD European working group on levees is organising a webinar on March 16 11:00-13:00 CET to consider the ‘emergency repairs of levees’. We want speakers from across Europe and beyond to share their work on this topic, whether it is emerging research or practical experience during a flood. This important topic will be of …

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Levees in ICOLD and highlights of Levees in the Marseille ICOLD Congress

Disclaimer : this is a personal feedback on the ICOLD Congress in Marseille, obviously in regards to levees (by Rémy Tourment, Chairman of the ICOLD TC LE on Levees) First of all, check the ICOLD newsletter (issue #20) that you can download here : https://www.icold-cigb.org/GB/news/newsletters.asp where you can see that levees are taking a rightful place in ICOLD …

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results start-up session International Handbook for Flood Emergency Response

On June 27 and 28 2022 we had a start up session for creating an International Handbook for Flood Emergency Response. 33 experts from 10 countries (worlwide) and 20 different organisations shared their thoughts on the goal and content of this handbook. We are aware that many more experts are interested to participate but were …

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Working Group Webinar on temporary / mobile / demountable flood defences

The EUCOLD Working Group on Levees and Flood Defences  will organise this year two webinars, after the success of the previous one in 2021 on animal activity on levees. The first one will be held on October 6th, from 11:00 to 13:00 CET, on the topic of temporary, mobile, demountable barriers (or defense structures).  You …

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Short Course on the risk analysis of levee systems

Short courses will be given on the side-lines of the ICOLD Congress in Marseille. One of these course will present the international approach to risk analysis of levee systems described in chapter 5 of the International Levee Handbook and its French version through “Études de dangers” (Hazard studies). Illustrated by several examples, it will address …

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Failure paths for levees – A report from ISSMGE TC on Levees

Levee breaches are often the result of a combination of mechanisms, which may happen simultaneously, and/or successively. These interactions are complex and difficult to anticipate in design and assessment as well as during a forensic analysis of an actual breach. The ISSMGE TC201 has published a report on the failure paths (that can also be called failure …

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A webinar based on the ILH on the role of levees in flood risk management

CIRIA is organising a webinar about the role of levees on flood risk management, based on the International Levee handbook. All details can be found on the event web page. Please disseminate the information in your contacts.

ICOLD annual meeting for 2021

The program for the annual ICOLD meeting (15-19 Nov. 2021) is available, you can find it here : ICOLD 2021 program You also can find more information and registration information on the dedicated web site : https://www.icold2021.org/en/ The ICOLD TC on Levees will hold a workshop on Novembre 18th from 12:00 to 13:30 (Paris time). …

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Spillways on River Levees

The English translation of a previous French handbook about spillways on river levees is now ready. It can already be pre-ordered as a physical book, and it will be available as an open access ebook from October 1st. More information on : https://www.quae.com/produit/1720/9782759232857/spillways-on-river-levees See also the flyer. 02812_SpillwaysHD 

A new paper on levee investigations is available

Dear collegues My new paper on levee investigations <A new levee control system based on geotechnical and geophysical surveys including active thermal sensing: A case study from Poland > is available next 50 days in Engineering Geology journal for free. link to download    https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1dXbq38lpFrmC Best regards, Krzysztof Radzicki

Peat soil – often breaks

https://www.ad.nl/alphen/dijkdoorbraak-zet-weilanden-in-reeuwijk-onder-water-rivierkreeft-zou-niet-de-boosdoener-zijn~af466319/ In the west of the Netherlands a peat “dike” failed today The original soil is the core of the dike, the surrounding soil has subsided and oxidized. The dike probably failed due to the fact it dried out, the recent abundant rainfall is only the trigger. The polder consists of agricultural land

A first step in trying to understand and document what occurred between July 12th and July 23rd in the Meuse river basin, and the effects on the Netherlands

A first step in trying to understand and document what occurred between July 12th and July 23rd in the Meuse river basin. This was an exceptional weather event. However it was correctly predicted. In Germany in the Eifel region (mainly tributaries to the Rhine) they had 3 months of rainfall in 36 hours and in …

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A new document on “Methods and techniques for reinforcing and repairing protection levees”

A new report has been approved by the CFBR Executive Board, and is published on the French  committee’s website, “Documentation” tab: Methods and techniques for reinforcing and repairing protection levees This is the deliverable of the CFBR “Levees” Working Group. It is made up of two parts: – a first, “General framework”: https://www.barrages-cfbr.eu/IMG/pdf/recueil_confortement_digues_partie_1.pdf – a …

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Webinar on Animal Burrowing – feedback

It was good to see so many at the workshop 30 June (67 people in total). Some presentations are already on the website (see https://lfd-eurcold.inrae.fr/index.php/wg-webinar-1/), the others will follow as soon as possible. The speakers were excellent and we are very grateful to them. Hopefully we will be able to have another event later this …

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2019 Japan flood reports are published

The reports of levee failures, etc. in 2019 Typhoon Hagibis is published in English by the Japanese Geotechnical Society. The reports are open access. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/soils-and-foundations/vol/61/issue/2#article-22 Including, “Levee damage and bridge scour by 2019 typhoon Hagibis in Kanto Region, Japan” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038080621000226 Backslope erosion by overtopping at the Naka River levee (Photo : Hirotoshi Mori)

A WG webinar on animal activity on levees

We are very pleased to announce the first webinar of the Working Group on Levees and Flood Defences of the European Club of ICOLD, about animal activity on our levees, which will be held June 30th from 11:00 to 12:30 CET. Please email Patrik if you want to attend. He will send you an appointment …

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Special session in the FLOODrisk conference on risk based decision making for levees

During the FLOODrisk 2020 conference (happening in June 2021) , a special session  ‘Risk Informed Decision Making for Levees and Flood Defences’ will take place virtually on Tuesday 22 June 2021 from 13:30 to 15:00. This special session is organised by EUCOLD LFD WG and ICOLD TC members. Special Session: Risk Informed Decision Making for …

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Discovery of ancient levee in the Netherlands

Near the town of Vlaardingen, remnants have been found of an ancient construction that probably served as a low levee. The construction was about 1 metre in height, at least 20 metres long, and consisted of a dual construction consisting of wooden piles and braided willow branches, that was subsequently filled with earth. The levee …

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EGU virtual conference – Submissions deadline January 20th.

I received from a colleague  this information that I wanted to share with you: DO NOT FORGET THAT… Is that time of the year were we get crazy and excited about submitting abstracts for EGU ! Deadline for abstract submission is extended to the 20th of January 2021, 13:00 CET. This 2021 promises an even …

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In situ overflowing experiments at Living Lab Hedwige-Prosperpolder by POLDER2C’s

POLDER2C’s has started with the execution of levee overflow tests near the Dutch-Belgian border. Besides well-maintained levee sections, we aim to test anomalies like presence of a cliff, animal burrows and a tree. https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/11/13/dijken-doel/ https://polder2cs.eu/ Patrik Peeters Flanders Hydraulics Research

Presentation of the French version of the ILH

The French association of levee managers France Digues organises a presentation of the French edition of the International Levee Handbook. Because of the COVID19 situation, this event, which was supposed to happen in Paris as a physical meeting, will beheld online so more people will potentially be able to attend. More details here : Programme …

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Reflections on the ICOLD LE TC meeting September 2020

The ICOLD Levees Technical Committee (LE TC) 2020 met over the last three days of September for our 2020 meeting. These are some of my personal reflections. The current restrictions in response to COVID19 were overcome by having a teleconference on each of the days. I think the importance of Levees worldwide was seen by …

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Webinar on International Levee Databases

Last week TU Delft hosted a webinar on their International Levee Performance Database, as well as similar initiatives from France and the USA. The webinar also discussed the applications of such databases and the necessity for closer collaboration in developing them. Over 150 participants joined online from around the world, representing private consultancies, academic and …

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Building a resilient flood protection system, including to overtopping. Summer 2019: creating openings in an existing railway

History of the project On the left bank of the south of the Rhône river (in France), between the cities of Tarascon and Arles, a railway embankment has performed for many years as a flood protection structure although it was not a role falling under its owner (the French National Railway company) responsibility. In December 2003, …

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Fusion of information from geophysical and geotechnical investigations for levee assessment

The identification of levees constitutive materials, as well as the detection of possible interfaces and anomalies, are crucial for site characterization. During investigation campaigns, complementary geophysical and geotechnical methods are usually used. These two sets of methods yield data with very different spatial scales and different levels of incompleteness, uncertainty and inaccuracy. On the one …

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ICOLD Meeting 2020 New Delhi

UPDATE (4 March) : the meeting has been postponed due to the Coronavirus epidemic. The new dates are: Sat. 26 Sept. – Th. 01 Oct. 2020. The dates for the WG workshop and meeting are on Sunday 27th and Monday 28th respectively. The 2020 ICOLD meeting will be in New Delhi, India, from 4 to 10 …

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Request: information on drought effects (e.g., cracks) in levees

Dear all, During last month’s EURCOLD Symposium I presented a paper on drought effects on levees; see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336641742_Mitigating_drought_risk_for_levees_Mitigating_drought_risk_for_levees . For the Sept2020 Floodrisk Symposium, I wish to extend this work and include some more experiences regarding drought effects on levees. However, it turned out to be quite hard to find publications and data (such as …

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ECMSGE 2019

The XVIIth ECSMGE conference, held in Reykjavik  with the theme “Geotechnical Engineering, ​foundation of the future” on September 1-6, had a lot of content related to levees and also to dams. ​ISSMGE TC201 on “Geotechnical aspects of Dykes and Levees” has some members in common with ICOLD LE TC and EUCOLD LFD WG.  We will in the …

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New issue of our LFD WG newsletter

Hello we have  issued a new issue of our Levees and Flood Defences  Working Group  newsletter. You can find it available for download on our website. It concentrates on the different levees related conferences of this year: the ICOLD annual meeting, the ECSMGE conference, and the EUCOLD symposium. It also includes a special feature presenting …

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