Flash flood susceptibility modeling for drainage basins of Dir Lower Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: a comparative analysis of morphometric ranking and El-Shamy’s approach

Abstract

Flash flood disasters frequently occur in Dir Lower, causing heavy losses and diluting the capability of sustainable development of the local economy. Flash floods are one of the natural disasters which harm the life and infrastructure. These types of floods come due to high rainfall. In the present study flash flood were assessed in District Dir lower watersheds, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. Assessment was conducted using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Two approaches were used to assess the flooding risk for five watersheds of Dir lower: The morphometric ranking approaches and The El-shamy’s approaches. Both approaches utilize the morphometric parameters for the flash flood susceptibility. The results achieved based on two approaches which identify the sub watersheds with High flash flood susceptibility, Moderate flash susceptibility, and low flash flood susceptibility. Both approaches have the same result in the study area which indicates that in sub watershed B1, B2, and B3 have High flash flood susceptibility which is 60% of total watersheds, B5 have moderate, and B4 have low flash flood susceptibility. The adaption of methodology can apply to estimate the flash flood susceptibility in Dir Lower.