Storm water flooding Amsterdam, from a quick scan analyses to an action plan

Dealing with the issue of urban storm water flooding is becoming increasingly urgent. In the Netherlands there are no clear guidelines on the level of acceptance of urban flooding. Based on an accurate DEM, a detailed quick scan tool has been used to assess an extreme storm event in Amsterdam. The resulting flood maps for the whole of the city show where flooding is likely to occur after 60 or 100 mm of rain in one hour, as well as which buildings are at risk.
Based on the results from this mapping study, Amsterdam decided to start a program to make the city rainproof (Amsterdam Rainproof). Part of the program was the validation of the model based on field research. An example of this is the use of data from the extreme storm event that occurred in Amsterdam on 28 july2014. In this paper several pilots from Amsterdam will address the relevance and effectiveness of the quick scan tool.