The 1974 Tubarão River flood, Brazil: reconstruction of the catastrophic flood

Abstract

Large magnitude floods occur in rare frequency, and most cases result in severe damages. Generally, the representation of extreme hydrological events presents high uncertainties regarding occurrence conditions, and low quality and quantity of data to support the event assessment. In this research, we performed a reconstruction of one historical flood based on flood memory and quantitative data. We developed a hydrological and hydraulic reconstruction of the catastrophic flood in a coastal basin in the southern region of Brazil. This event is among the 300th deadliest hydrological disasters in the globe. According to the data based on qualitative methodologies in combination with historical documents, we created the scenarios and analysed by computational model: precipitation, coastal tide height, wind direction and velocity and, channel depth. This analysis provided the academic community and state officials a further understanding of a critical hydrological disaster originated by a compound event at the Brazilian coastal basin.

KEYWORDS:

• Historical flood
• hydrological disaster
• flood memory
• extreme event
• hydrological and hydraulic reconstruction

Acknowledgments

The first author would like to acknowledge Rafael Marques and members of Civil Defense and Protection Secretary of Tubarão (SC) for important contributions that made this research possible and Brazilian agency CAPES and the Municipal Government of Tubarão city for financial support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Franciele Maria Vanelli

Franciele Maria Vanelli is a Master of Environmental Engineering, Institute of Hydraulic Research, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. E-mail: [email protected]

Leonardo Romero Monteiro

Leonardo Romero Monteiro is a Professor of Civil Engineering Department, Santa Catarina State University. Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil. E-mail: [email protected]

Fernando Mainardi Fan

Fernando Mainardi Fan is a Professor of Institute of Hydraulic Research, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. E-mail: [email protected]

Joel Avruch Goldenfum

Joel Avruch Goldenfum is a Professor of Institute of Hydraulic Research, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. E-mail: [email protected]