Transportation detouring and facility location optimization after the flood in the Black Sea Region

Abstract

This study contains the solutions for detouring after the flood in the Black Sea Region in Turkey back in the summer of 2021. Moreover, it proposes an emergency support facility location in the vicinity of the disaster area. However, the region's problem is lacking a detouring plan for transportation management in the case of road closures due to flood effects such as damaged bridges or landslides. Since the region is prone to heavy precipitations and the terrain is appropriate for possible floods and landslides, the region's transportation management during or after a disaster is vital. In this manner, Dynamic Programming (DP) is utilized for arranging the detours for the transportation road network in the area of disaster. Furthermore, Stochastic Based Optimization (SBO) techniques are powerful in solving network optimization problems. Hence, location analysis via Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) is conducted for siting an emergency support facility according to the spatial characteristics of the road network. Results indicate that although detouring lengthens the transportation paths between origins and destinations, disasters such as floods can obligate such interventions. Moreover, the deterioration of a network link plays a critical role because it changes the spatial topology. Therefore, a facility for emergency cases is located based on the current data in the region for quick intervention using an SBO technique of WOA.