HIS-SSM

Highwater Information System – Damage and Casualties

Acquiring insight in advance in the consequences of a flooding makes it possible to consider appropriate and preventive measures.

The HIS-SSM (Highwater Information System – Damage and Casualties Module) is a (computer)model with which the expected damage and number of casualties due to the flooding of a certain area can be calculated. During the calculations the model makes use of integrated files with various geographical orientated data concerning e.g. economy, traffic, buildings and population.

HIS-SSM is based on the ‘Standardmethod Damage and Casualties’. An area can be flooded in several ways and as it is not desirable to calculate all the possible scenarios, one has to find a way to reduce the number of calculations. This is done by establishing a number of representative scenarios. In the year 2000 a standardized method has been developed with the aim to provide a broad based method for establishing damage and number of casualties caused by flooding. In 2002 and 2004 the Standardmethod has been developed further. The most recent version dates back from 2007. During the assembling of the Standardmethod results of various studies on the areas of damage and casualties are used.

HIS-SSM can be combined with models to predict the flooding probability. The combined results can be presented as flood risks and taking into a risk analysis. In this way, HIS-SSM can also take part in underpinning the discussion of insurability of flood risks. The availability and applicability of good, reliable and transparent models is therefore desirable.

HIS-SSM is a windows orientated software package and is on request available for free use.