Two-day Flood Modelling Workshop

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO/UN) is coordinating a two-day training exercise in flood modelling on Tuesday 30^th – Wednesday 31^st October, 2019.  The workshop is a component of the four-year project “Improving Forest and Protected Area Management in Trinidad and Tobago” which the FAO is implementing on behalf of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

This workshop activity will enable participants – including staff of the Drainage Division, Ministry of Works and Transport and the Division of Infrastructure, Quarries and Environment, THA – to become familiar with aspects of the hydrology of catchments and their influence on receiving floodplains.  The focus of the workshop will be on the development of design storms and the application of techniques for generating streamflow hydrographs emanating from catchments.

This workshop sets the stage for a follow-up session in early November in which participants can understand how the streamflow hydrographs flowing onto a floodplain may cause flooding.  It will explore the capabilities and limitations of a popular two-dimensional hydrodynamic model and how it can be used for performing hydraulic analyses for evaluating the suitability of flood control measures.  The model’s capability for producing flood hazard maps will also be covered.

The workshop is linked to a current feasibility study being undertaken in the project to identify possible options for improving freshwater input into the mangrove swamp forest of the Caroni Swamp.  If a feasible option is identified, improved freshwater flow to the Swamp may also provide an associated solution to reduce or mitigate flood challenges in surrounding areas.