Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/7640

Title: Wind risk assessment in urban environments: the case of falling trees during windstorm events in Lisbon
Authors: Lopes, António
Oliveira, Sandra
Fragoso, Marcelo
Andrade, José
Pedro, P
Editors: Střelcová, K.
Škvarenina, J.
Blaženec, M.
Keywords: Strong winds
urban environment
trees in urban streets
Lisbon
Issue Date: 2009
Publisher: Springer Science+Business media B.V.
Citation: Bioclimatology and natural hazards
Abstract: Trees bring many benefits to the urban environment. However, they may also cause hazards to human population, being the major causes of injuries and infrastructural damage during strong wind events. In the city of Lisbon, strong winds rather frequently result in tree falls, depending on the season and meteorological conditions. This paper presents a methodology to analyse tree damage due to strong wind events in urban environments. Each occurrence has been recorded by the Lisbon Fire Brigade and Rescue Services (Regimento de Sapadores Bombeiros de Lisboa - RSBL). Information provided by RSBL relating to the period of 1990-2005 was considered along with hourly wind speed and direction, species, fitossanitary conditions and urban parameters. To ensure that the fallen trees were caused by strong winds, only days with three or more occurrences of fallen trees were selected. It was found that in summer, northerly winds are responsible for 11% of tree falls, with winds from other directions (west, southwest and south) responsible for 5%. From autumn to spring, perturbed weather conditions originating from the west, southwest and south are responsible for 84% of fallen trees. The majority of tree falls occurred when wind speed surpassed 7 m/s in the six hours prior to their fall. Some recommendations to the Civil Protection Agency and the Fire Department are presented to improve the mission of collecting information. This research is a contribution to the assessment of wind risk in Lisbon.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/7640
ISBN: 978-80-228-17-60-8
Type: bookPart
Appears in Collections:MED - Publicações - Capítulos de Livros

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