The adverse effect of climate change continues to expand, and the risks of flooding are increasing. Despite advances in network science and risk analysis, we lack a systematic mathematical framework for road network percolation under the disturbance of flooding. The difficulty is rooted in the unique three-dimensional nature of a flood, where altitude plays a critical role as the third dimension, and the current network-based framework is unsuitable for it. Here we develop a failure model to study the effect of floods on road networks; the result covers 90.6% of road closures and 94.1% of flooded streets resulting from Hurricane Harvey. We study the effects of floods on road networks in China and the United States, showing a discontinuous phase transition, indicating that a small local disturbance may lead to a large-scale systematic malfunction of the entire road network at a critical point. Our integrated approach opens avenues for understanding the resilience of critical infrastructure networks against floods.
1.Beijing Normal Univ, State Key Lab Earth Surface Proc & Resource Ecol, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China 2.Minist Educ, Key Lab Environm Change & Nat Disaster, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China 3.Beijing Normal Univ, Acad Disaster Reduct & Emergency Management, Fac Geog Sci, Beijing 100875, Peoples R China 4.Boston Univ, Ctr Polymer Studies, Boston, MA 02215 USA 5.Boston Univ, Dept Phys, 590 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 USA 6.Rensselaer Polytech Inst, Dept Comp Sci, Troy, NY 12180 USA 7.Rensselaer Polytech Inst, Network Sci & Technol Ctr, Troy, NY 12180 USA
Recommended Citation:
Wang, Weiping,Yang, Saini,Stanley, H. Eugene,et al. Local floods induce large-scale abrupt failures of road networks[J]. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS,2019-01-01,10