Hazard vulnerability assessment of critical infrastructures (CIs) is crucial for ranking infrastructures based on their level of criticality, enabling the urban managers to prioritize CIs for allocating funds in the hazard mitigation/recovery process. This study aims to provide a framework for ranking CIs based on a rapid and preliminary flood vulnerability assessment by introducing a methodology for classifying CIs according to their vulnerability to riverine flooding. An indicator‐based vulnerability curve is calculated both quantitatively (using Fuzzy Logic Toolbox in MATLAB) and qualitatively (using susceptibility–exposure matrix), based on which CIs prioritization is accomplished with a focus on functional flood vulnerability considering structural/nonstructural damages. Besides, this study addresses the consequences that a damaged infrastructure may have on the rest of CIs and estimates their vulnerability given the additive impact of the surrounding failed infrastructures considering their interdependence. The methodology was applied to Berat (Albania) and Sarajevo (Bosnia‐Herzegovina) with findings compared to those of a multi‐criteria decision‐making‐based approach commonly used in CI ranking literature. The obtained results from both methods represent that roads are the most vulnerable studied infrastructure in the case of Berat, while regarding the city of Sarajevo, road infrastructures are considered the least vulnerable to riverine floods compared to bridges and schools.

Modeling flow in open channels is essential for determining channel capacity and predicting flood events. The key segment for creating flood hazard and risk maps is a high-quality hydraulic model of the flow in the main bed with its tributaries. Several software packages have been developed for hydrodynamic simulations of flood events. In addition to the geometric characteristics of the watercourse, the equations of a one-dimensional flow model include a parameter that connects all influences that provide resistance to the flow of water. Determining the roughness of a natural channel is one of the most demanding procedures for the development of hydraulic models. Therefore, it is necessary to calibrate and validate the Manning coefficients of the channel roughness using simulation models. In the present study, the estimation of channel and floodplain roughness for the Veseočica River in Bosnia and Herzegovina was performed using the HEC-RAS hydrodynamic model. After calibration and verification of the model, flood hazard maps were created for flood waves with return periods of 20, 100, and 500 years. ArcGIS and HEC-GeoRAS software tools were used to create the flood risk maps.