During high flows events, debris (e.g. driftwood, plastic, rubble, etc.) are likely to accumulate at riverine bridge piers. Recent research has acknowledged the negative consequences of debris accumulations at bridge piers on bridge stability, hydraulic capacity and therefore on inundation dynamics. More specifically, the accumulated debris may causes an increase of the water velocity, with consequences on hydrodynamic phenomena (e.g. scour); moreover, the clogging also causes backwater level rise, with consequences on the surroundings (e.g. embankment failures, overflow). During the 2021 floods in Belgium, Germany and Netherlands, many bridges suffered from debris accumulation. Currently, satellite imagery have been shown to capture debris accumulation (e.g. Panici et al., 2020) in given locations and for several years, but this technology has not been explored yet.
