Flood hazard assessment mapping in burned and urban areas

Abstract

This study proposes a simple method to produce a flood hazard assessment map in burned and urban areas, where primary data are scarce. The study area is a municipal unit of Nea Makri, a coastal part of the eastern Attica peninsula (central Greece), which has been strongly urbanized and suffered damage from urban fires in 2018. Six factors were considered as the parameters most controlling runoff when it overdraws the drainage system’s capacity. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method and a geographical information system (GIS) were utilized to create the flood hazard assessment map. The outcome revealed that the areas with highest flood hazard are distributed in the eastern and southern parts of the study area, as a result of the combination of lowlands with gentle slopes, torrential behavior of the streams, streams covered by construction, increasing urbanization and burned areas. The uncertainty and the verification analyses demonstrate a robust behavior for the model predictions, as well as reliability and accuracy of the map. Comparing the existing urban fabric and road network to the potential flood hazard areas showed that 80% of the urban areas and 50% of the road network were situated within areas prone to flood. The method may be applied to land use planning projects, flood hazard mitigation and post-fire management. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland