GIS-Based Spatial Distribution of Flood Hazards in the Chamchamal Basin, Sulaymaniyah, NE Iraq

Floods are natural disasters of a large scale that endanger human life. The reasons for the study are population increases and unplanned land use changes in the Chamchamal Basin. The current study's objective is to generate a flood hazard zone map for the Chamchamal Basin to support disaster risk reduction and land-use planning. To determine the flood hazard zones of the research region, an integrated strategy combining remote sensing, GIS, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process was applied. Eleven flood-influencing factors (Distance from Stream, Rainfall, Elevation, Topographic Wetness Index, Slope, Drainage Density, Flow Accumulation, Stream Power Index, Soil, land Use/Land Covers and Profile Curvatures were chosen specifically for this. The Chamchamal Basin was classified into five zones based on flood hazard areas. According to the findings, 32.2 km2 ( 6.4%) of the basin has an extremely low flood risk. Low and moderate flood hazard zones cover approximately 85.8 km2 (16.96%) and 159.5 km2 (31.4%), respectively. Additionally, high and very high hazard zones cover 148.9 km2 (29.5%) and 79.6 km2 (15.74%), respectively. Planners may find great success in developing appropriate measures to lessen the hazard of flooding in the Chamchamal basin with the help of data obtained from this study.