Flood Hazard Assessment Using Multi-criteria Evaluation Approach in Dembiya Woreda, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

The current climate change scenario and various studies in the past related to climate change have shown that flood impact has increased vulnerability of people in the flood plains. The aim of this study was to examine the spatial distribution of flood hazard severity in Dembiya Woreda in Amhara Region using GIS and remote sensing techniques. The study employed the multi criteria evaluation (MCE) based flood hazard severity to examine the extent and magnitude of flood hazard severity in the study area. The flood hazard mapping was undertaken using GIS and remote sensing technique to show spatial distribution of flood hazard severity hotspots in the study woreda. The flood hazard map obtained from the overlay analysis of flood causative factors in the study area soundly agrees to each other. The flood hazard severity map indicated that about 40777ha (32.8%) and 81350ha (65.4%) of land were subjected to high and moderate flood hazard severity, respectively. These could have a tremendous impact on crop production in areas that are frequently being hit by flood hazards. Therefore, multi-criteria based flood hazard assessment is vital to show spatial distributions of different severity levels of flood hazard so that the required mitigation and adaptation strategies can be implemented.