Abstract
Abstract. The State of Kuwait faced a catastrophic flood on the 9th of November 2018 due to extraordinary rainfall of around 111mm in less than 6 hours. Such an extreme flood event has not been observed in Kuwait for the last 50 years. In this research, we attempt to understand the crisis management in Kuwait from a Geoinformatics perspective. Remote sensing and GIS were used to investigate the flood impacts and response efficiency in Kuwait city, Fahaheel city and Sabah Al-Ahmad city. A comparison was carried out based on the availability of Geoinformation data and tools, the response time for each city, and the number of recorded incidents. It was found that the response to the flood event was overall lacking, mainly due to the absence of accurate geoinformation data and the lack of real-time monitoring of the drainage network. In addition, the absence of a centralized crisis management authority in Kuwait that could coordinate the various related bodies involved in flood response aggravated the issue.
Highlights
The country of Kuwait has an arid climate due to its desert location and it very seldom experiences heavy rainfall
The current study proposes the generation of flood hazard maps through GIS and remote sensing for Kuwait and hypothesises that they could be utilized meaningfully in disaster preparedness and management to formulate strategies for combating flood risks and crises like the 2018 case
The present study identifies the types of available geoinformation data that can be used to model the flood crisis in Kuwait and compares the model outputs to the impacts of the 2018 floods in respect to the number of recorded accidents, emergency response times and percentages of blocked streets
Summary
The country of Kuwait has an arid climate due to its desert location and it very seldom experiences heavy rainfall. Statistics from the National Meteorological Department show that within 24 hours on the 9th of November alone, Kuwait received 111 mm of rain in less than 6 hours (Floodlist News in Asia, 2018), which was more than 5 times the rainfall usually received in the whole month of November (Aljazeera, 2018) The results of these floods included damage to major roads and bridges, private property and significant congestion during the month of November. Before these extreme phenomena unfolded, Kuwait’s Meteorological Department issued severe weather warnings; the government was not able to prevent the flooding due to the absence of a centralized crisis management authority in Kuwait. Given the acute flood problems in Kuwait in 2018, the local authorities should give special attention to use of GIS models with low cost and simple data requirements that are able to provide essential inputs towards comprehensive management of floods
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