The 2011 flood event in the Richelieu River basin: Causes, assessment and damages

Abstract

The 2011 Richelieu River (Québec, Canada) spring flood was unprecedented in terms of destruction of property and negative impacts on agricultural as well as fish habitat within its watershed, costing an estimated CAD $90 million. The combined effect of various meteorological conditions that took place during the winter and the following spring season contributed to both the occurrence of a peak flow with a return period of 90 years and long flood duration. Due to the strong damaging effects of spring floods on both human and natural systems, the need for proper assessment of flood risks with a particular emphasis on the underlying key meteorological causes is pressing. The current study quantifies these flood risks as well as the main hydro-meteorological causes and consequences of the 2011 record spring flood of the Richelieu River using a two-component statistical and deterministic approach.

L’inondation de la rivière Richelieu au printemps 2011 est une première en terme de destruction de propriété et d’impact négatif sur l’agriculture et sur la faune du bassin versant, coutant ainsi environ 90 millions de $CAD au gouvernement du Canada et des États-Unis d’Amérique. Les effets combinés des différentes conditions météorologiques ayant eu lieu durant l’hiver et au printemps 2010–2011 ont contribué à l’occurrence d’une pointe de crue caractérisée par une période de retour de 90 ans et d’une longue durée de crue. Les dommages importants subis aux systèmes naturel et humain causés par cette inondation printanière mettent de l’avant le besoin pressant d’évaluer les risques d’inondation avec un accent particulier sur les causes et les conséquences hydro-météorologiques de la crue record de 2011 de la rivière Richelieu en utilisant une approche combinée statistique et déterministe.

Acknowledgements

We thank the financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, and Environment Canada. Other financial support from the The International Research Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change (IRIACC)-FACE project (see http://face.ete.inrs.ca/) is also acknowledged. IRIACC is managed by the International Development Research Center (IDRC), co-financed by the IDRC, the Canadian Health Research Institutes, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and NSERC. A special acknowledgement is also expressed to our colleagues at Environment Canada, Meteorological Service of Canada (Quebec region), for fruitful exchanges and support over the course of the study.