Isha Desai
Independent Researcher
India
Abstract
Floods are among the most devastating natural hazards affecting human settlements, infrastructure, and the environment worldwide. Effective flood risk management necessitates accurate identification of vulnerable areas to enable preparedness, mitigation, and response. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide powerful spatial analysis tools that can integrate various datasets such as topography, land use, hydrology, and meteorological data to develop detailed flood risk maps. This manuscript explores the application of GIS-based techniques for flood risk mapping, focusing on data acquisition, spatial analysis, and risk classification. The study demonstrates a methodological framework combining Digital Elevation Models (DEM), rainfall data, river discharge, and land cover information to identify flood-prone zones in a selected region. The results highlight the capability of GIS in producing comprehensive flood risk maps that support disaster management and urban planning. This work adheres strictly to engineering methods and technology available up to 2019.
Keywords
Flood risk mapping, GIS, Digital Elevation Model, hydrology, spatial analysis, flood hazard, vulnerability assessment.
References
- Maidment, D. R. (2002). Arc Hydro: GIS for Water Resources. ESRI Press.
- Pappenberger, F., Beven, K. J., et al. (2007). Cascading Model Uncertainty from Medium Range Weather Forecasts to Flood Predictions. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 11(4), 1247-1260.
- Cutter, S. L., Boruff, B. J., & Shirley, W. L. (2003). Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards. Social Science Quarterly, 84(2), 242–261.
- Malczewski, J. (2006). GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis: a survey of the literature. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 20(7), 703-726.
- Saaty, T. L. (2008). Decision making with the analytic hierarchy process. International Journal of Services Sciences, 1(1), 83-98.
- USDA (1986). Urban Hydrology for Small Watersheds, Technical Release 55 (TR-55). Natural Resources Conservation Service.
