Sustainable development goals (SDGs) associated with flash flood hazard mapping and management measures through morphometric evaluation

Abstract

This study is the first to demonstrate the interlinkages between several flash flood mitigation strategies and sustainable development goals (SDGs) by understanding the basins' morphometric characteristics. The basins' features were described by eighteen morphometric parameters, covering the watershed geometry, drainage network, and relief. The flash flood hazard degree (FFHD) was significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with texture ratio (R²=0.712), surface slope (R²=0.705), relief (R²=0.690), basin area (R²=0.666), ruggedness number (R²=0.615), and sinuosity index (R²=0.551). These parameters were used to define the sustainability of flash flood management actions, viz., protecting water bodies and livestock, harvesting freshwater from rainfall, restoring water-related ecosystems, implementing safe working areas, and applying hydro-electrical facilities for energy generation. Essential non-structural and structural measures were suggested to mitigate flood damages. The proposed mitigation measures showed high relationships with the environmental, economic, and social pillars of sustainability, reducing the negative impacts of flash floods on the fulfilment of SDGs.

Keywords:

• Digital elevation model
• flooding potential assessment
• mitigation strategies
• morphometric parameters
• sustainability

Acknowledgements

The first author is very grateful to the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) for providing financial support in the form of a Ph.D. scholarship. Also, thanks to Japan International Cooperation Agency-JICA for providing all facilities, and equipment to accomplish this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contribution

MM: Methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft; MI: supervision, conceptualization, visualization, writing—review & editing; MF: supervision, visualization, writing—review; MN: conceptualization, supervision, writing—review & editing.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Additional information

Funding

Funds were partially supported by Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).