Flood risk management in the Souss watershed

Abstract

Flooding is the most devasting natural hazards that causes more damage throughout the world. In 2016, for the fourth year in a row, it was the most costly natural disaster, in terms of global economic losses: $ 62 billion, according to a Benfield’s 2016 annual report on climate and natural disasters [1]. The semi-arid to arid Souss watershed is vulnerable to floods, whose the intensity is becoming increasingly alarming and this area does not escape to the effects of this extreme event.. Indeed, the susceptibility of this region to this type of hazard is accentuated by its rapid evolution in terms of demography, uncontrolled land use, anthropogenic actions (uncontrolled urbanization, encroachment of the hydraulic public domain, overgrazing, clearing and deforestation).), and physical behavior of the environment (higher slope, impermeable rocks, etc.). It is in this context, that we have developed a strategic plan of action to manage this risk in the Souss basin in order to reduce the human, economic and environmental losses, after the modeling of the flood hazard in the study area, using georeferenced information systems (GIS), satellite remote sensing space and multi-criteria analysis techniques, as well as the history of major floods. This study, which generated the high resolution 30m flood hazard spatial distribution map of with accuracy of 85%, represents a decision tool to identify and prioririze area with high probability of hazard occurrence. It can also serve as a basis for urban evacuation plans for anticipating and preventing flood risk in the region, in order to ovoid any dramatic disaster.

Assessment of Water Resources Carrying Risk and the Coping Behaviors of the Government and the Public

“…Wang assessed the risk of agricultural flooding and waterlogging disasters in Jilin Province and constructed a rainstorm flood risk assessment index system using four aspects: the harmfulness of disaster-causing factors, the sensitivity of disaster-prone environment, the vulnerability of disaster-affected subjects, and the ability of disaster prevention and reduction; it was also pointed out that extreme precipitation events were the main cause of flood disaster [ 6 ]. Bouaakkaz assessed the flood disaster in Susi Basin and found that population size, land abuse, overdevelopment, and other factors rapidly aggravated the vulnerability and susceptibility of flood disasters in this area [ 7 ]. Lv constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system of urban flood-bearing risk based on the vulnerability of flood-bearing capacity and the vulnerability of disaster prevention and mitigation capacity to study the flood-bearing risk of Zhengzhou and considered that the rapid development of urbanization is the main reason for the increased risk of urban flood and waterlogging disasters [ 8 ].…”

Spatial and temporal rainfall variability and erosivity: Case of the Issen watershed, SW-Morocco

“…Also, the study area is characterized by the presence of the argan steppes. Due to the climatic aggressiveness andthe high anthropogenic pressure, the High Atlas mountains and the Issen basin as a part of it suffering from water erosion risks, including soil degradation and flooding [11,12].…”

A 500-year flood history of the arid environments of southeastern Spain. The case of the Almanzora River

“…Floods are the natural hazard that affects the greatest number of people worldwide (Bouaakkaz et al, 2018) and which causes the highest global economic losses (Benfield, 2016). In recent decades, exposure to floods has increased dramatically in certain regions (Tanoue et al, 2016), due to an…”