Assessment of watersheds vulnerability to flood risks along north western coast of Egypt using remote sensing and GIS techniques

Abstract EN

Egypt is characterized by its arid condition.

Intense stream networks distinguish the desert geomorphology, which is subjected to harsh climatic conditions, and extreme water scarcity.

However, different stream networks, especially along the seacoasts and the Red Sea Mountains, are subjected to extreme precipitation events in the form of flash floods, where a considerable amount of rainfall occurs, suddenly, for a short duration, and with a relatively long time period.

Flood management has mainly two objectives: (1) Benefit of the available floodwater during water scarce period, and (2) Flood attenuation to minimize the damage occurred by flash floods.

It is crucial to find a means for flood predictions, risk assessment, and vulnerability estimation.

The different streams networks and basins in the North Western Coast were studied here to measure its morphological and hydrological parameters as to assess their risk degree and classify their relative vulnerability.

The study has shown that the factors that control the risk were verified only in 7 sheets of the study area, from north to south.

At the same time, the rate of evaporation recorded high values in the south stations and low values in the northern stations.

Also, some areas delineated with the flood risk to be considered in future during planning and development.

The use of GIS techniques allowed us to read and comment on all the resulting maps.