Environmental Flash Flood Management in Egypt

Abstract

Flash Floods are a common natural disaster occurring in many parts of the arid regions. The flashfloods severely threaten the infrastructures, human lives destroying their livelihood, moreover affecting the country’s business, economy, and threaten the archeological areas. Egypt economy depends on archeological tourism because it represents one of the very important resources of national income in Egypt. Natural disasters (e.g., floods, landslides, sand/dust storms, etc.) have become during the past four decades widespread dangerous problems in many parts of the world, including the Arab countries, thus contributing to increase in poverty and threatening food security. Today’s society becomes rapidly vulnerable to natural disasters due to climate changes, growing urban populations, severe human degradation of marginal lands, and disturbance of formerly stable ecosystems, as well as a lack of natural resource management, land use planning, and preparedness. Several technical reasons connected to population pressures are aggravating the intensity of flooding in the Arab countries becoming as such tragedies and bringing disasters in their wake. Flooding disasters have created, during the last years, widespread environmental, social, and economic destruction in several Arab countries. Floods cause severe degradation reshaping natural landscapes, sedimentation in reservoirs and waterways, disruption of lake ecosystems, and contamination of drinking water.