Performance of urban storm drainage network under changing climate scenarios: Flood mitigation in Indian coastal city

Abstract

Managing storm water under climate uncertainty is a major concern in urban areas throughout the world. There were several floods events recorded in Chennai, a one of the major metropolitan coastal city in India. The flood incidences were repeatedly reported in recent decades. In this study, the existing state of storm water drains are evaluated under current and future climate scenarios in one of the most flood-prone areas of Chennai viz. Velachery zone. The mitigation measures are recommended to increase its resilience against floods. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) CMIP5 models of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 are used to develop possible future climate change scenarios of the city. The daily rainfall data for the period 1975–2015 obtained from India Meteorological Department are used to find the extremities and to generate Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves. The IDF curves are generated for 2, 5, 10, 50, 100 year return period under current and future climate scenarios. The storm drainage network are delineated with Differential Geographic Positioning System (DGPS) survey. The integrated hydraulic and hydrological modelling is carried out to assess the flood carrying capacity of storm drainage under present and future climate scenarios. The vulnerable hotspots are identified and flood mitigation measures are suggested to reduce the flood risk at Velachery.