Flood Risk Assessment of Nowshera City and Remediation

Abstract

The climate change during the year 2010 showed an abrupt change and resulted in catastrophic floods in Pakistan and especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). Thereby, there is a dire need of identifying the flood-prone areas and emplacement of flood protection structures at Nowshera city to protect the precious lives of the inhabitants and infrastructure. This paper focuses on identification of flood-prone areas, with a view to suggest remediation against flood risk to Nowshera city. A detailed methodology has been adopted and as a first step; field study of the area has been carried out to ascertain the flood limits of flood 2010 to ascertain flood risk areas and in the second step the statistical analysis of hydro-meteorological data has been done with the help of 43 years record of precipitation of Peshawar Basin, 10 years record of snowmelt and 13 years record of discharge of river Kabul, in order to ascertain the reoccurrence period and climatic variability. Based on flood risk assessment, structural measures like construction of flood protection bund/ embankments, bypass channels/inundation canals, dam, breaching sections to dispose of excess water, removal of encroachments/slump settlements, tree plantation in catchment areas and nonstructural measures like implementation of land use laws and preparation of flood risk maps have been recommended.