Impact of 2014 Kashmir flood on land use/land cover transformation in Dal lake and its surroundings, Kashmir valley

Abstract

Kashmir Valley has witnessed a catastrophic flood in 2014, which led thousands of people homeless and devastated the agricultural lands. In the present study, the impact of 2014 flood occurred during the month of September was analysed in the vicinity of Dal lake using the pre- and post-flood periods satellite observations. The study exhibited an inundation of 42.50 km2 area (52.47% of total area) during September 2014 flood period, which is primarily topographical low-lying area (i.e. below 1530 m). The land use/land cover (LULC) analysis during pre- and post-flood periods exhibited significant impact over the built-up land with 20.4% decrease in the built-up (from 25.44 to 20.25 km2), which was mostly evident in the western, southern and eastern parts of Dal lake. It has also severely affected the road network with inundation of 220.84 kms (55.62% of total road network). The road network in the lower elevation (< 1530 m) not only disrupted but also acted as a carrier for the flood water dispersal in the region. The long-term impact and recovery of flood inundation were assessed using spatio-temporal built-up growth during 2014, 2015 and 2018 within the flooded zone through geospatial overlay analysis. The flood (September 2014) affected a total 10.42 km2 of built-up, wherein the built-up was reduced to 7.50 km2, due to the low-lying topography and nearest proximity to flow path of Jhelum river. Later, the built-up was increased to 9.60 km2 within the flooded zone during 2018 primarily in the southern parts, representing the long-term recovery after the flood aftermath. Although the impact of flood (2014) was evident in both the flooded and non-flooded zones, the built-up growth was reduced significantly in the flooded zone (− 25.18% change) as compared to non-flooded zones (− 17.32% change). Also, the long-term recovery was comparatively higher in the non-flooded zone (31.84% growth) as compared to the flooded zone (28.03% growth). The study necessitates towards implication of effective urban planning method primarily along the major lakes in order to reduce the increasing impact of catastrophic flood.