Abstract
Floods in Himalayan region raise serious concerns regarding ongoing path of development as recent manifestations of catastrophic events establish link between climate changes and risk to anthropogenic activities in mountainous regions. Scientists predict frequent occurrence of such disasters wherein rapid glacial melting; incidents of glacial lake outburst and weather extremes may trigger floods in the Himalayan mountains. This paper examined flood risk in Upper Mandakini basin through GIS based flood simulationto highlight flood potential and risk associated with such hazard in the study area.It is observed that floods in study area display hazardous interplay of natural terrain gradient, high kinetic energy of streams, and intense rainfall. The upper sections of basin that includes Kali Ganga, Mandani Ganga, Madhyamaheshwar and Mandakini rivers shows high flood susceptibility with greatest risk in the latter. Such hazardousness is likely to be intensified by ongoing anthropogenic activities in the basin.
Highlights
Floods by far are the most lethal of all disasters that claimed 6.8 million human lives in twentieth century;[1] about 44 percent flood events since 1960 have occurred in Asia.[2]
Floods in upper Mandakini River basin represents an extremely hazardous interplay of natural processes that have resulted in unprecedented destruction in the past
The reconstruction of flood hazard simulation shows a high degree of risk attributed to steep gradient, high stream flow, high kinetic energy of streams, and high probability of intense rainfall
Summary
Floods by far are the most lethal of all disasters that claimed 6.8 million human lives in twentieth century;[1] about 44 percent flood events since 1960 have occurred in Asia.[2]. The active tectonics and high potential energy of Himalayan terrain create conditions for multiple hazards exacerbated by hydro-meteorological forces.[14,15,16] Such processes resurface in same geographical locales and add to the severity of disasters
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