Evaluating Natural Flood Management Effectiveness Across Fast-Responding Catchments Using High-Resolution Monitoring

Flooding remains the most frequent and damaging natural hazard globally, causing significant loss of life and socio-economic disruption each year. In response, flood risk management policies have increasingly embraced nature-based solutions, particularly Natural Flood Management strategies (NFMs), which seek to preserve, restore, or mimic natural hydrological and geomorphological processes across catchments as interconnected systems. While growing evidence supports the hydrological implications of individual NFM interventions (Bagheri et al., 2025), comparative assessments of multiple NFM strategies in rapid-response catchments remain limited. This study, led by Devon County Council in partnership with 19 organisations and aiming to enhance community flood resilience through NFMs, evaluates the hydrological effectiveness of multi-intervention NFM approaches across five fast-responding catchments in Devon, UK. Utilising a robust Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experimental design, we collected high-resolution hydrological data at five-minute intervals using water level loggers, rain gauges, soil moisture probes, and time-lapse cameras. 545 flood events were identified and analysed. Preliminary results from the completed catchments confirm that NFMs collectively contribute to reductions in flood peak magnitude and increases in flow travel time, with the magnitude of effect varying by intervention type and catchment characteristics.

Reference

Bagheri‐Gavkosh, M., Panici, D., Puttock, A., Dauben, T., & Brazier, R. E. (2025). Hydrological Analysis and Impacts of Natural Flood Management Strategies: A Systematic Review. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 18(3), e70112.