Evaluation of a weather forecasting model and HEC-HMS for flood forecasting: case study of Talesh catchment

Abstract

Reports demonstrate that floods are among the most prevalent and deadliest natural disasters affecting 520 million people annually. The present study seeks to evaluate flood forecasting using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model and the Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) model. To this end, WRF and HEC-HMS were calibrated by comparing their results with the data observed at measuring stations. Then, the output rainfall data of the WRF model were implemented by the calibrated HEC-HMS model and were examined using the statistical indices, which were revealed to be 4.13, 3.42, and 2.67 for the flow volume and 6.2, 2.46, and 5.11 for the peak flow, suggesting the accurate performance of WRF model alongside HEC-HMS in the Talesh catchment.