Hypothetical failure of the Khassa Chai dam and flood risk analysis for Kirkuk, Iraq

Kawa Z. Abdulrahman (), Mariwan R. Faris, Hekmat M. Ibrahim, Omed S. Q. Yousif, Alan Abubaker Ghafoor, Luqman S. Othman and Moses Karakouzian
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Kawa Z. Abdulrahman: University of Sulaimani
Mariwan R. Faris: University of Kirkuk
Hekmat M. Ibrahim: University of Sulaimani
Omed S. Q. Yousif: University of Sulaimani
Alan Abubaker Ghafoor: University of Sulaimani
Luqman S. Othman: University of Halabja
Moses Karakouzian: University of Halabja

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2022, vol. 113, issue 3, No 19, 1833-1851

Abstract: Abstract Many of Iraqi's high-hazard dams lack an Emergency Action Plan, which should include a flood inundation map to show which downstream areas would be flooded if the dams were to fail. This article presents the results of the simulation of a hypothetical 2D dam break for the 58 m high Khassa Chai dam in Kirkuk, Iraq, using HEC-RAS 2D 5.0.7 software. The Khassa Chai dam is situated 7.4 km north of Kirkuk. The simulations revealed that the dam-break flood will affect eight major bridges and the majority of Kirkuk city's metropolitan neighborhoods. Within an hour, the floodwaters will reach the city's center. The flood hazard map revealed that if the Khassa Chai dam fails, many people, vehicles, and structures will be at danger. The findings of this paper can be used to identify evacuation routes and refuge sites as well as build suitable warning systems in order to limit the risk for fatalities if the Khassa Chai dam fails. Moreover, as the effect of modeling bridges downstream of failed dams has not been explored yet, to the knowledge of the authors, eight bridges have been modeled. It was concluded that ignoring bridges in such a large dam break model will not affect the results significantly, which saves the time of data collection and model development.

Keywords: Flood simulation; Dam failure; 2D Flow modeling; HEC-RAS; Flood risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-022-05371-2

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