Impact of land use land cover changes at meso-level on the flood response of an inland city-A case of two watershed areas of Bengaluru, India

Abstract

Floods in urban areas have become a common problem globally. Extensive research has been done to understand the changes in urban areas that are resulting in floods, such as Land Use Land Cover changes and insufficient subsurface sewer systems. However, many of these studies have concentrated on the city-level changes causing increased flood events. Hence, this paper explores the impact of temporal changes in Land Use Land Cover (LULC) at the geographic unit (meso) level on the flood response for inland cities. LULC changes for two watersheds, Ulsoor and Bellandur in Bengaluru, are assessed using Remote Sensing data and GIS, and flood metrics are calculated using the Hydrologic Engineering Center Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC HMS) between the years 2003 and 2021. Changes in LULC classes are correlated with the changes in flood metrics. Results indicate that the LULC changes were similar in the two watersheds but with varying rates of change. While changes in built-up areas impacted flood metrics in the Ulsoor watershed, vegetation and open land changes impacted the Bellandur watershed