Hydrologic behavior and flood probability for selected arid basins in Makkah area, western Saudi Arabia

In arid regions, flash floods often occur as a consequence of excessive rainfall. Occasionally causing major loss of property and life, floods are large events of relatively short duration. Makkah area in western Saudi Arabia is characterized by high rainfall intensity that leads to flash floods. This study quantifies the hydrological characteristics and flood probability of some major wadis in western Saudi Arabia, including Na’man, Fatimah, and Usfan. Flood responses in these wadis vary due to the nature and rainfall distribution within these wadis. Rainfall frequency analysis was performed using selected annual maximums of 24-h rainfall from eight stations located in the area. Two of the most applied methods of statistical distribution, Gumbel’s extreme value distribution and log Pearson type III distribution, were applied to maximum daily rainfall data over 26 to 40 years. The Gumbel’s model was found to be the best fitting model for identifying and predicting future rainfall occurrence. Rainfall estimations from different return periods were identified. Probable maximum floods of the major wadis studied were also estimated for different return periods, which were extrapolated from the probable maximum precipitation.     

Regional frequency analysis of autumnal floods in the province of Quebec, Canada

A large number of models have been proposed over the last years for regional flood frequency analysis in northern regions. However, these models dealt generally with snowmelt-caused spring floods. This paper deals with the adaptation, application, and comparison of two regional frequency analysis methods, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and universal canonical kriging (UCK), on autumnal floods of 29 stations from the C?te-Nord region (QC, Canada). Three possible periods during which autumnal floods can take place are tested. The absolute and specific flood peak and volume quantiles are also studied. A jack-knife resampling procedure is applied to compare the performance of each model according to the selected period and the type of quantile. The period of September 1st to December 15th is found to be optimal to represent autumnal floods and specific quantiles were shown to lead to better results than absolute quantiles. Variables that explain best the autumnal floods are the basin area, the fraction of the area covered with lakes, and the average of mean July, August, and September maximal temperatures. The CCA model performs slightly better than UCK.     

新疆塔里木河流域洪水过程集聚性及低频气候影响

运用Cox回归模型、月频率法以及离散指数法,研究了新疆塔里木河（塔河）流域8个水文站点POT抽样和5个区域洪水序列时间集聚性特征以及受低频气候变化的影响。结果表明:受气候变化的影响,塔河流域洪水序列呈现显著集聚性特征,洪水发生频率高的时期往往也是大量级洪峰集中发生的时期,这是塔河流域洪灾损失居高不下的主要原因;Cox回归模型拟合的气候指标系数值为正值的站点和区域,气候指标正相位导致相同超过概率的洪水发生时间提前,而相同发生时间的洪水发生超过概率降低,气候指标值为负值时则相反;塔河流域大部分水文站点和区域洪水发生的超过概率均对气候指标变化有较好响应,这一现象有利于塔河流域洪水风险控制与洪灾管理;塔河流域站点洪水序列多无年际集聚性现象,而区域洪水序列的年际集聚性特征显著。     

公元1500—2000年印度尼西亚—菲律宾强火山喷发对中国中东部旱涝格局的影响*

强火山活动是气候变化的重要自然驱动因素,可导致中国降水出现年际或年代际变化,甚至极端的旱涝现象。探究位于中国邻域的印度尼西亚—菲律宾一带的强火山喷发与中国旱涝分布格局的关系,有助于阐释中国旱涝发生的时空规律及机制,为预测未来火山爆发可能导致的降水异常提供借鉴。本文基于1500—2000年期间世界强火山活动和中国旱涝资料,运用时序叠加分析的方法辨识了印度尼西亚—菲律宾一带的强火山喷发后中国旱涝在年际尺度上的时空变化特征,并对1815年Tambora火山喷发进行案例分析。结果表明印度尼西亚—菲律宾一带的强火山喷发对中国的旱涝格局有一定的影响:强火山喷发后第0年至第2年,中国中东部各站点的整体变化为偏涝;在第3年,整体出现了偏旱的转变,且变化幅度相比其他年份较大;就地区而言,喷发后华北、华南地区分别出现了由旱转涝、由涝转旱的变化,并且这些变化大概持续了2~3年,随后2个区域均恢复了喷发前的旱涝趋势;印度尼西亚1815年Tambora火山喷发后0~3年,中国以涝情为主,但发生涝情的区域逐年在发生变化。     

An integrated data-mining and multi-criteria decision-making approach for hazard-based object ranking with a focus on landslides and floods

This study is aimed at conducting a hazard-based sustainability gap analysis considering spatial threats driven by floods and landslides, that is, a multi-hazard-based prioritization of the most important cities in Gorganrood Basin, Iran. Two data-mining models were used to assess the spatial probability of flood inundation and landslide occurrence, namely, support vector machine with the radial basis function kernel (SVM-RBF) and maximum entropy (ME). As inputs, a total of 124 flooded locations and 346 landslides with ten flood/landslide predisposing factors were mapped using geoinformatics and organizational data. The random selection method was used to split the flood and landslide inventories into two sets of train and test data. Tolerance index was used to test the multicollinearity among predictors. Validation of the models was carried out using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Finally, TOPSIS was used, as a multi-criteria decision-making model, to make an internal sustainability gap analysis to prioritize the threatened and safe cities. For flood inundation, the AUC values obtained from the test set revealed that the SVM-RBF outperformed ME in terms of predictive power and generalization capacity with the respective areas of 0.831 and 0.796 under the curve. For landslide susceptibility assessment, SVM-RBF again excelled ME in predictive power with the respective values of 0.887 and 0.84. Therefore, the susceptibility maps derived from SVM-RBF, as the premier model, were used for the next stage. Extracting the flood and landslide spatial probability values to 14 city points, the TOPSIS-Solver software made a prioritization using the similarity function to the ideal solution. Accordingly, Aliabad, Minoodasht, and Azadshahr cities, with having the smallest similarity coefficients, were found to be the top three spatially threatened cities in Gorganrood Basin, while Aq Qala, Gomishan, and Gonbad-e Kavus cities were placed at the bottom as the safest cities. This study can be a pivotal point in regional risk-based planning, implementation of further pragmatic measures, and allocation of resources for improving sustainable development most wisely.     

极值分布和P-III型分布线性矩法在区域洪水频率分析中的检验

以江西省和福建省的86个水文站的年最大洪水资料为样本,在成因水文分区———模糊聚类法的基础上,采用线性矩区域综合方法进行区域洪水频率分析,并选用两种区域洪水分布线型:通用极值分布(GEV)、P-III型分布来检验这两省的洪水特性。结果表明,P-III型分布优于GEV分布。     

Scaling property of regional floods in New South Wales Australia

Regional flood frequency analysis (RFFA) is often used in hydrology to estimate flood quantiles when there is a limitation of at-site recorded flood data. One of the commonly used RFFA methods is the index flood method, which is based on the assumptions that a region satisfies criterion of simple scaling and it can be treated homogeneous. Another RFFA method is quantile regression technique where prediction equations are developed for flood quantiles of interest as function of catchment characteristics. In this paper, the scaling property of regional floods in New South Wales (NSW) State in Australia is investigated. The results indicate that the annual maximum floods in NSW satisfy a simple scaling assumption. The application of a heterogeneity test, however, reveals that NSW flood data set does not satisfy the criteria for a homogeneous region. Finally, a set of prediction equations are developed for NSW using quantile regression technique; an independent test shows that these equations can provide reasonably accurate design flood estimates with a median relative error of about 27%.     

Hydraulic routing of extreme floods in a large ungauged river and the estimation of associated uncertainties: a case study of the Damodar River, India

Many developing countries are very vulnerable to flood risk since they are located in climatic zones characterised by extreme precipitation events, such as cyclones and heavy monsoon rainfall. Adequate flood mitigation requires a routing mechanism that can predict the dynamics of flood waves as they travel from source to flood-prone areas, and thus allow for early warning and adequate flood defences. A number of cutting edge hydrodynamic models have been developed in industrialised countries that can predict the advance of flood waves efficiently. These models are not readily applicable to flood prediction in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, however, due to lack of data, particularly terrain and hydrological data. This paper explores the adaptations and adjustments that are essential to employ hydrodynamic models like LISFLOOD-FP to route very high-magnitude floods by utilising freely available Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission digital elevation model, available topographical maps and sparse network of river gauging stations. A 110 km reach of the lower Damodar River in eastern India was taken as the study area since it suffers from chronic floods caused by water release from upstream dams during intense monsoon storm events. The uncertainty in model outputs, which is likely to increase with coarse data inputs, was quantified in a generalised likelihood uncertainty estimation framework to demonstrate the level of confidence that one can have on such flood routing approaches. Validation results with an extreme flood event of 2009 reveal an encouraging index of agreement of 0.77 with observed records, while most of the observed time series records of a 2007 major flood were found to be within 95 % upper and lower uncertainty bounds of the modelled outcomes.     

Analysis of flood vulnerability and assessment of the impacts in coastal zones of Bangladesh due to potential sea-level rise

The 4th IPCC report highlights the increased vulnerability of the coastal areas from floods due to sea-level rise (SLR). The existing coastal flood control structures in Bangladesh are not adequate to adapt these changes and new measures are urgently necessary. It is important to determine the impacts of SLR on flooding to analyse the performance of the existing structures and corresponding impact to plan for suitable adaptation and mitigation measures to reduce the impacts of floods on coastal zone. The study aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the possible effects of SLR on floods in the coastal zone of Bangladesh. A hydrodynamic model, which is a combination of surface and river parts, was utilized for flood simulation. The tool was applied under a range of future scenarios, and results indicate both spatial variability of risk and changes in flood characteristics between now and under SLR. Estimated impact on population, infrastructure and transportation is also exposed. These types of impact estimation would be of value to flood plain management authorities to minimize the socio-economic impact.     

China’s regional rainstorm floods disaster evaluation based on grey incidence multiple-attribute decision model

This paper deals with the problem of the estimation of rainstorm floods disaster. Based on the relevant historical disaster data of Yearbook of Meteorological Disasters in China (2005–2010), the initial disaster data of 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in mainland China (Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan excluded) are processed into evaluation indices values. And then, the incidence degrees of disaster data are calculated. The disaster situation of rainstorm floods disaster for each region in mainland China from 2004 to 2009 is estimated by applied the grey incidence decision model of the dynamic multiple attribute. Simultaneously, the comprehensive quantitative assessment of the rainstorm and flood disaster of each region in mainland China nearly 6 years is conducted. According to the assessment results of 2004–2009 torrential rain and flood disaster in Chinese mainland, the level division of disaster loss is investigated. And the disaster loss of mainland China’s 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions is divided into five levels in which the national flood disaster situation zoning maps are constructed. The results demonstrate that the evaluation method of rainstorm floods disaster is practical and effective.     

Flood Events in the Rhine Basin: Genesis,Influences and Mitigation

The paper analyses the hydrological regime of the Rhine catchment,the genesis of recent floods,and recommends some research and practical activities to mitigate flood damage. The catchment of the Rhine River can be divided into four main subcatchments: the alpine region with the Aare River as its main tributary and downstream the lower mountain regions of the tributaries Neckar, Main and Moselle. These four basins generate very different hydrographs. Due to the geographical conditions, the average discharge maximums shift from summer to winter downstream the Rhine. Moreover, the spatial and temporalprecipitation patterns of each river have a strong influence on the individual flood events. Some recent extraordinary floods are used to illustrate the parameters that have influenced these events.A strong relationship between recent climate change observationsand the occurrence of flood levels cannot be proven. However, the consequences of human interventions and the resulting changes to the river system (the Rhine and its tributaries) for the hydrograph can be quantified precisely.The influences of different land-use and climatic scenarios on flood conditions in the Rhine basin have not yet been separately identified. Thus, the Dutch-German project LAHoR was established. The primary aim of this project is to giveadvice for the ``Action Plan on Flood Defence' of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (IKSR). In this plan a multidisciplinary approach to mitigating floods is suggested.It is anticipated that the plan willgenerate synergistic effects between flood prevention, water management, regional planning, agriculture, forestry and ecological demands.     

Regional rating curve models of suspended sediment transport for Turkey

Estimations of annual suspended sediment loads are required for various types of water resources studies. Often estimation of the sediment load is needed for ungauged watersheds. Regionalization methods provide a practical solution to solve such problems. The purpose of this study is to classify suspended sediment yields in watersheds into homogeneous regions in order to identify their regional sediment rating curves. This study has been carried out for suspended sediment stations on 26 main basins of Turkey. Long term-scale suspended sediment rating curves of 115 gauging stations in Turkey were classified using cluster analysis on the basis of hydrological homogeneity. An agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm is used so that stations from different geographical locations are considered in the same cluster independently of their geographical location. 115 gauging stations were clustered into 4 different homogenous regions and the regional suspended sediment rating curve was developed for each region. The performance efficiencies of the developed regional rating curves were evaluated for 8 test stations and compared to the performances of rating curves in test sites. A regionalization model is developed for estimating suspended sediment rating curves for ungauged sites in Turkey. The developed regional rating curve models result in very close performances to those of their corresponding site rating curves.     

河北滦河流域冲积物花粉与植被关系的研究

滦河流域13 个水文站不同时期(枯水期、洪水期、平水期)新鲜冲积物花粉分析表明，冲积物花粉组合受流域内植物花期影响。枯水期木本植物花粉含量高于草本植物，对应春季多数乔木花期。平水期草本植物花粉含量高于木本植物，对应夏、秋季多数草本植物花期。洪水期草本植物花粉含量略高于木本植物。洪水期冲积物中的木本植物花粉主要是由雨水片流将春季落入表土的花粉带入河水中所致。燕山地区的冲积物主要系洪水期沉积，所以燕山地区冲积物花粉组合中20%～40%的乔木花粉代表了现在燕山山区20%～25%的森林覆盖率，这为根据冲积物花粉定量恢复古植被森林覆盖率提供了现代依据。     

Morphometric analysis and flash floods of Wadi Sudr and Wadi Wardan, Gulf of Suez, Egypt: using digital elevation model

Application of geographic information systems and remote sensing are a powerful tool for the assessment of risk and management of flood hazards. By using these techniques to extract new drainage network with more details to prepare natural hazard maps which may help decision makers and planners to put suitable solutions reducing the impact of these hazards. Ras Sudr city and surrounding area had been attacked by flash floods of Wadi Sudr and Wadi Wardan which are nearly perpendicular to the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez, Egypt, and many infrastructures had destroyed. GIS techniques and remote sensing are used to find the interrelation between the morphometric parameters by using statistical correlation to determine the area under varying flood conditions. The results of morphometric parameters and the new data of last flood which occurred on 17-18th January 2010 indicate that the two basins are threatened by the risk of flash floods and Wadi Wardan is more risky than Wadi Sudr.     

An extended STIRPAT model-based methodology for evaluating the driving forces affecting carbon emissions in existing public building sector: evidence from China in 2000–2015

In recent decades, population growth associated with unplanned urban occupation has increased the vulnerability of the Brazilian population to natural disasters. In susceptible regions, early flood forecasting is essential for risk management. Still, in Brazil, most flood forecast and warning systems are based either on simplified models of flood wave propagation through the drainage network or on stochastic models. This paper presents a methodology for flood forecasting aiming to an operational warning system that proposes to increase the lead time of a warning through the use of an ensemble of meteorological forecasts. The chosen configuration was chosen so it would be feasible for an operational flood forecast and risk management. The methodology was applied to the flood forecast for the Itajaí-Açu River basin, a region which comprises a drainage area of approximately 15,500 km² in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, historically affected by floods. Ensemble weather forecasts were used as input to the MHD-INPE hydrological model, and the performance of the methodology was assessed through statistical indicators. Results suggest that flood warnings can be issued up to 48 h in advance, with a low rate of false warnings. Streamflow forecasting through the use of hydrological ensemble prediction systems is still scarce in Brazil. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this methodology aiming to an operational flood risk management system has been tested in Brazil.     

Reconstruction and post-event analysis of a flash flood in a small ungauged basin: a case study in Slovak territory

Flash floods are one of the major natural hazards occurring in small streams with a negative effect on the country as well as on human lives. Heavy rainfall occurred on July 20, 2014 and July 21, 2014 and caused severe surface water flooding and a flash flood in the Malá Fatra National Park (Slovakia). The most affected was Vrátna Valley with the Varínka stream. This study presents a reconstruction and post-event analysis of a flash flood on small ungauged basin located in this protected area of Slovakia. The reconstruction included hydraulic terrain measurements on estimating the flood’s culmination and documenting the flood’s development. The measurements were taken at three cross sections of the Varínka stream. This paper is focused mainly on post-event analysis of the Varínka stream in two profiles: Strá?a (gauged profile) and Tiesňavy (ungauged cross section). Subsequently, the extremeness of the flash flood was preliminary evaluated. Results of the post-event analysis showed that the July 2014 flood was not the highest flood in this area despite its catastrophic consequences. By studying historical materials, we came to the conclusion that in the past (e.g. in 1848 or 1939) some devastating floods in this area had occurred, which had disastrous consequences for the population. The second part of the study is focused on comparing this flash flood with three major floods which have occurred in Slovak territory since 1998. The first flood occurred on the 20th of July, 1998 on the Malá Svinka stream, and the two others are floods which occurred on the 7th of June, 2011 in the Small Carpathian Mountains: on the Gidra stream in Píla village and on the Parná stream in Horné Ore?any village. Such comparison of flash floods from different geographical regions and different rainfall events can provide comprehensive information about their regimes, threats and disastrous effects.     

Flash flood susceptibility mapping using a novel deep learning model based on deep belief network,back propagation and genetic algorithm

Flash floods are responsible for loss of life and considerable property damage in many countries.Flood susceptibility maps contribute to flood risk reduction in areas that are prone to this hazard if appropriately used by landuse planners and emergency managers.The main objective of this study is to prepare an accurate flood susceptibility map for the Haraz watershed in Iran using a novel modeling approach(DBPGA) based on Deep Belief Network(DBN) with Back Propagation(BP) algorithm optimized by the Genetic Algorithm(GA).For this task, a database comprising ten conditioning factors and 194 flood locations was created using the One-R Attribute Evaluation(ORAE) technique.Various well-known machine learning and optimization algorithms were used as benchmarks to compare the prediction accuracy of the proposed model.Statistical metrics include sensitivity,specificity accuracy, root mean square error(RMSE), and area under the receiver operatic characteristic curve(AUC) were used to assess the validity of the proposed model.The result shows that the proposed model has the highest goodness-of-fit(AUC = 0.989) and prediction accuracy(AUC = 0.985), and based on the validation dataset it outperforms benchmark models including LR(0.885), LMT(0.934), BLR(0.936), ADT(0.976), NBT(0.974), REPTree(0.811), ANFIS-BAT(0.944), ANFIS-CA(0.921), ANFIS-IWO(0.939), ANFIS-ICA(0.947), and ANFIS-FA(0.917).We conclude that the DBPGA model is an excellent alternative tool for predicting flash flood susceptibility for other regions prone to flash floods.     

延河流域雨洪特性及洪水预报

延河是黄河的一级支流，流经安塞、延安、延长等陕北南部地区的重要城镇，是引发该地区城镇洪水的主要河流，因此，延河洪水预报对这些城镇的防洪安全具有重要意义。在分析延河流域雨洪特性的基础上，以提高大洪水的预报精度为主、适当兼顾中小洪水的原则，采用具有成因概念的系统模型和相关图法，建立了以延安市为重点、包括安塞及延长县城的延河区段洪水预报方案，可供作业预报试用。     

Floods in the IPCC TAR Perspective

Recent floods have become more abundant and more destructive than ever in many regions of the globe. Destructive floods observed in the 1990s all over the world have led to record-high material damage, with total losses exceeding one billion US dollars in each of two dozen events. The immediate question emerges as to the extent to which a sensible rise in flood hazard and vulnerability can be linked to climate variability and change. Links between climate change and floods have found extensive coverage in the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Since the material on floods is scattered over many places of two large volumes of the TAR, the present contribution - a guided tour to floods in the IPCC TAR – may help a reader notice the different angles from which floods were considered in the IPCC report. As the water-holding capacity of the atmosphere grows with temperature, the potential for intensive precipitation also increases. Higher and more intense precipitation has been already observed and this trend is expected to increase in the future, warmer world. This is a sufficient condition for flood hazard to increase. Yet there are also other, non-climatic, factors exacerbating flood hazard. According to the IPCC TAR, the analysis of extreme events in both observations and coupled models is underdeveloped. It is interesting that the perception of floods in different parts of the TAR is largely different. Large uncertainty is emphasized in the parts dealing with the science of climate change, but in the impact chapters, referring to sectors and regions, growth in flood risk is taken for granted. Floods have been identified on short lists of key regional concerns.