Flood Analysis and Mitigation for Petra Area in Jordan

Petra is located in the southwest region of Jordan about 200 km south of Amman, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. Petra was carved in sandstone canyons by the Nabatean over 2,000 years ago. Today the city is a major tourist attraction, its monuments being considered the jewels of Jordan. Floods pose a serious threat to the tourist activities in Petra as well as to the monuments themselves. In this paper, a flood analysis model developed and calibrated for the Petra catchment is described. Using the model, flood flows and volumes are estimated for storm events of various return periods. To alleviate the impact of floods on tourism in Petra, several flood mitigation measures are proposed. The impact of these measures on flood peakflow and volume is evaluated. These include afforestation, terracing, construction of check and storage dams, and various combinations of these measures. The flood simulation model predicts that the measures can reduce flood peakflows and volumes by up to 70%.