As an important barrier of Shanghai's urban lifeline, the Shanghai embankment has long played an irreplaceable role in disaster prevention and mitigation for the city's development, providing a solid guarantee for the city's continuous prosperity and safe development in resisting storm surges and floods. However, with the continuous improvement of the city's functional positioning and the frequent occurrence of extreme weather, in order to improve the living conditions of urban residents, Shanghai has put forward higher requirements for the emergency response work of the embankment. Therefore, based on in-depth research and analysis of the operation and management practice of the Shanghai embankment, this paper summarizes the common types and causes of embankment failures, and proposes the principles and methods of emergency response according to the types and degrees of risks, providing a reference for the subsequent emergency response of the Shanghai embankment.