The assessment of flood risks and their corresponding management rely on an accurate characterisation of extreme events related to meteorological conditions (e.g. rainfall, wind, waves and currents) and the response of man-made structures (e.g. sea dikes, dunes, beaches and seawalls), under a number of conditions and scenarios, and also eventually on a reliable forecast of these extremes. This is at the core of the research within Task 2, where the emphasis has been on the probabilistic assessment of such extremes.

The research is of relevance to engineers and others involved in either:

• Estimating or checking extreme values to be used in flood risk assessment, or
  
  
• Deriving hydraulic loading conditions for design of flood defence structures.

Key words: hydraulic extremes, extreme events, risk analysis, probabilistic assessment