Reconstruction of a flash flood event through a multi-hazard approach: focus on the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda

Liesbet Jacobs (), Jan Maes, Kewan Mertens, John Sekajugo, Wim Thiery, Nicole van Lipzig, Jean Poesen, Matthieu Kervyn and Olivier Dewitte
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Liesbet Jacobs: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Jan Maes: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Kewan Mertens: KU Leuven
John Sekajugo: Busitema University
Wim Thiery: ETH Zürich
Nicole van Lipzig: KU Leuven
Jean Poesen: KU Leuven
Matthieu Kervyn: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Olivier Dewitte: Royal Museum for Central Africa

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2016, vol. 84, issue 2, No 7, 876 pages

Abstract: Abstract The increased use of complex and holistic modelling for multi-hazard analysis is in sharp contrast with a lacuna in hazard analysis in equatorial Africa. This study aims to increase understanding of multi-hazard events in poorly documented regions with low accessibility. We focus on the Nyamwamba catchment (107 km2) located in the Rwenzori Mountains (Uganda) where on May 1, 2013, a severe flash flood occurred. In this region, wildfires, earthquakes and landslides occur as well. Here we reconstruct the circumstances under which this flash flood event was triggered, characterize the different processes acting upon the catchment dynamics and estimate the damaging effects of the flash flood within the catchment. The combined occurrence of intense rainfall, a forest fire having burned 18 % of the catchment area and the occurrence of 29 landslides providing debris to the river system, induced a debris-rich and very destructive flash flood which caused several fatalities, the destruction of 70 buildings, several bridges, a hospital, a school, a tarmac road and several lifelines. Although the methodologies applied to estimate peak discharge, detect landslides and delineate wildfires are well established in their disciplines and sometimes limited in their precision, their combination is required to demonstrate the importance of the wildfire and landslides for the magnitude of this flood, unprecedented in decades but characterized by a low return period of the triggering rainfall event. This indicates that flash floods should not be considered as self-determined phenomena but as a result of several cascading and interacting hazard processes.

Keywords: Flash flood; Landslide; Forest fire; Multi-hazard; Equatorial Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-016-2458-y

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