Flash floods modelling for wadi system: Challenges and trends

Abstract

In arid regions, flash floods are the most devastating hazards especially in terms of loss of human life and infrastructures. These floods occur due to heavy rainfall for short duration, steep slope, and impervious layer as well as climate change. The combination of these factors makes it more severe and devastating. The very short warning time is the main problem of flash floods that typically leave only a few hours for civil protection services to act. Various modelling techniques and tools have been widely developed for humid area applications, however, arid and semi-arid regions have received little attention even though they suffer from lack of water resources and the threat of flash floods. Hence, there is a desperate need for developing comprehensive, innovative, and powerful physical-based models, explicitly based on the best available understanding of the physics of hydrological processes of Wadi system in such regions. Consequently, these approaches could be applied as effective and sustainable management tools for water resources and flash floods modelling. In this chapter, Wadi systems are introduced; history of flash flood and impacts are documented and hydrologic models or approaches are reviewed. Recommendations are offered for possible prediction and management of flash floods under climate change.