Motorists' Vulnerability to Flash Floods in France
Résumé
Flash floods are characterized by their suddenness, fast and violent movement, rarity, small scale but high level of damage. They are particularly difficult to forecast accurately and leave very little lead-time for warnings. Flash floods can surprise people who are in the midst of their daily activities, with particularly serious impacts when people travel across roads vulnerable to flooding. Overall, and particularly in Texas, most of the people killed by flash floods are in cars.
What make motorists especially vulnerable? Experts call for a comprehensive integration of social and natural sciences and engineering to better understand public responses. In this context, my research specifically addresses people's travel patterns during flash floods and uses a spatio-temporal analysis to better understand the link between human behaviors and a sudden change in the environment. In that purpose I made two hypotheses to explain inappropriate behaviors:
1) people's unwillingness to change their daily routines,
2) discrepancy between individual space-time representations and actual flash flood characteristics.
What make motorists especially vulnerable? Experts call for a comprehensive integration of social and natural sciences and engineering to better understand public responses. In this context, my research specifically addresses people's travel patterns during flash floods and uses a spatio-temporal analysis to better understand the link between human behaviors and a sudden change in the environment. In that purpose I made two hypotheses to explain inappropriate behaviors:
1) people's unwillingness to change their daily routines,
2) discrepancy between individual space-time representations and actual flash flood characteristics.
Domaines
Etudes de l'environnement
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