Vulnerability to coastal flood hazard of residential buildings on Noirmoutier Island (France)
Résumé
Storm Xynthia was responsible for the death of 41 people by drowning after the flooding by the
sea of low-lying areas along French Atlantic coast in February 2010. This toll was partly
explained by inadequacy of houses to flood hazard: 78% of the deaths occur in single-storey
constructions.
In this paper, we propose a map linking architectural typology of constructions with
potential water depth in case of coastal flood event. The goal is to identify residential
houses which present a high level of vulnerability for people to a potential coastal flood
event. This work is presented on Noirmoutier Island which was few impacted by Storm
Xynthia. However, it presents some common points with the most hit territories during the
storm: 70% of the territory is under Xynthia level; 65% of the houses located in this lowlying
area are single-storey constructions
This map shows us different vulnerability between the four towns of the island.