Coupling of Population and Spatial Datasets for Flood Risk Impact Analysis

Abstract

Due to the inadequacy of spatial themes for assessing flood risks, considerable attention was shifted towards models for addressing continental and global hazards. There was limited focus on the exposure and vulnerability components of flood risk assessments with more focus on the physical aspects of the assessment and little understanding of the specific impacts on people and the assets. GIS-based flood risk assessment model was adopted in this study for assessing flood risk and the impacts in the Sultanate of Oman. Images captured by Leica Geosystems were used to generate georectified images in NSA’s office. Analysis of the georectified images revealed that people in the coastal tract were highly vulnerable to flooding during extreme weather events and sea-level-rise inundation. Impacts of flooding created nine classes of land use/land cover with a considerably extensive ground surface (221.28 km2) and limited land use areas for cropland (0.16 km2) and cultivation (0.20 km2), and built-up areas (21.57 km2). Impacts of flooding on roads and building infrastructures were significant. Hence, the rehabilitation approach involving the implementation of surface and underground water systems to mitigate impacts of flooding on people and the assets in the Sultanate of Oman was recommended.