Abstract
Floods are one of the most widely distributed hazards around the world and their management is an important issue of concern among all the stakeholders. The aim of this review is to synthesize the state of art literature in the application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques in all the flood management stages (pre-flood, during flood and post-flood stages). Flood types and common concepts in flood management are precisely explained. Case studies of flood management using GIS and RS are summarized. Current challenges in using GIS and RS techniques for flood management are also given. One lesson we learn from this review is that flood management is very diverse and it requires multidisciplinary involvement. It can also be deduced that RS techniques offer cheaper and faster options of accessing spatial data about the flood event even in the physically inaccessible areas. GIS techniques on the other hand facilitate hydrological models in data collection, analysis, querying and presentation of information in a more simplified format. The present review is expected to contribute to an improved understanding of the potential applications of RS and GIS techniques in flood management, especially among scientists in the developing countries where the use of these techniques particularly in flood management has generally been limited.
Highlights
Floods stand out to be the most frequent and devastating natural disaster around the world (Berz et al, 2001; ISDR, 2004; Sanyal and Lu, 2004), affecting an average of 99 million people per year between 2000 and 2008 (WHO, 2010)
This review aims at exploring various ways in which Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) techniques have been successfully utilized in flood management
Knowledge of flood types is critical in flood prediction and flood damage assessment and here it is worth noting that flash floods have not been very common compared to other types like river floods, they have caused more deaths and property damage than many other flood types
Summary
Floods stand out to be the most frequent and devastating natural disaster around the world (Berz et al, 2001; ISDR, 2004; Sanyal and Lu, 2004), affecting an average of 99 million people per year between 2000 and 2008 (WHO, 2010). Flash floods: are defined by their fast speed occurrence usually after a heavy and high intensity localized rainfall This in turn leads to a sudden and quick raise of water levels causing a threat to lives and property of the inhabitants (Berz et al, 2001; Jonkman, 2005; Younis and Thielen, 2008). Dang et al (2010) have identified several factors that contribute to the damaging potential of flood hazards They report that these factors depend on indicators such as flood depth, duration, velocity, impulse (product of water level and velocity) and the rate of the rise of water levels, warning time and the frequency of occurrence. On the other hand an increase in medical cost for households in the flood year compared to the preceding year was calculated and categorized as intangible damage due to flood
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