Designation of Flood Risk Zones Using the Geographic Information System Technique and Remote Sensing Data in Wasit, Iraq

Abstract

Floods are a great concern for people and infrastructure, and this is an issue which has increased in several regions around the globe in recent years. This study aims to evaluate flood risk areas and create a flood risk map using integrated remote sensing data and a geographic information system (GIS) in the Wasit governorate – eastern Iraq. Specifically, GIS‑based multi‑criteria analysis (MCA) was used to map flood hazard areas using a four‑criteria layer which is as follows: flow accumulation, slope, rainfall, and elevation. These four layers are standardized and combined using the overlay approach in ArcGIS software and a final map was produced. The study area was divided into five zones based on the results map, namely: very low, low, medium, high, and very high, according to the flood risk area. The resulting map indicates that over 60% of the study area is likely to experience a high and very high level of propensity of flooding. This study could be useful for government planners and decision‑makers to predict potential flooding areas and enhance flood management plans.