Analysis of Human Activity Impact on Flash Floods in China from 1950 to 2015

Yesen Liu, Yaohuan Huang, Jinhong Wan, Zhenshan Yang and Xiaolei Zhang
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Yesen Liu: State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
Yaohuan Huang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Jinhong Wan: Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Wuhan 430010, China
Zhenshan Yang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xiaolei Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: An early warning of a flash flood is essential to prevent the general public from the hazardous flooding events, however, the rapid variation of human activities has led to the uncertainty of risk in prone areas. The lack of a systematic record of flash flood events introduces challenges to flash flood-related research. Herein, we map spatial and temporal variations in flash floods in China from 1950 to 2015 and establish a general ordered logit model in a geographic information environment to estimate the association between the occurrence of flash flood events and natural conditions and the variation of human activities at the watershed level. The results showed that precipitation is an important cause of flash flooding, and demonstrate that anthropogenic intervention (heavy rainfall, density of villages, and vegetation cover) in the environment affect the likelihood of flash floods. We found that the likelihood of flash floods in China may increase with the air quality worsening and that the occurrence of flash floods is strongly correlated with vegetation cover. Our findings suggest a need for further investigation of the link between air quality and flash flooding in flood-prone areas.

Keywords: flash flood; human activities; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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