Flash Flood Risk Assessment Due to a Possible Dam Break in Urban Arid Environment, the New Um Al-Khair Dam Case Study, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Mohamed Hafedh Hamza () and Afnan Mohammed Saegh
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Mohamed Hafedh Hamza: Department of Geography and Geographic Information Systems, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Afnan Mohammed Saegh: Department of Geography and Geographic Information Systems, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: Recent years have seen an increase in floods with severe damage due to the intensity and frequency of rains. One of the periodic hydrological problems affecting Jeddah city, the second-biggest city in Saudi Arabia, is unexpected flash flooding. In dam breaks, water that has been retained is released uncontrollably. This study is related to a flood simulation methodology after a possible break of the New Um Al-Khair Dam, a dam built in 2012 outside residential areas, to replace the Old Um Al-Khair Dam built inside a residential area, which broke in January 2011. In fact, we simulated the impact on flood wave propagation in the study area through the use of GIS techniques coupled with hydrological/hydraulic modeling tools and the development of a flood inundation model. Planning a good emergency response in the future is possible by analyzing a supposed disaster. Based on the likelihood that there will be a flood and the corresponding inundation depth, a flood risk matrix is created as a quantitative tool to estimate flood damage, which is crucial to decision-makers. Negligible, low, moderate, high, and very high-risk categories are assigned according to that flood risk matrix. The results indicated a low to very high risk for 5 years, 50 years and 100 years return periods and a negligible to very high risk for a 200 years return period. To estimate the extent of damage, a quantitative summary of the results has been outlined graphically in order to visualize the scope of the inundation areas.

Keywords: dam break simulation; hydrological modeling (WMS and HEC-HMS); hydraulic modelling (HEC-RAS); geographical information systems GIS; remote sensing image analysis; inundation mapping; flood risk mapping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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