GIS-Based Spatial Mapping of Flash Flood Hazard in Makkah City, Saudi Arabia

Flash floods occur periodically in Makkah city, Saudi Arabia, due to several factors including its rugged topography and geological structures. Hence, precise assessment of floods becomes a more vital demand in development planning. A GIS-based methodology has been developed for quantifying and spatially mapping the flood characteristics. The core of this new approach is integrating several topographic, metrological, geological, and land use datasets in a GIS environment that utilizes the Curve Number (CN) method of flood modelling for ungauged arid catchments. Additionally, the computations of flood quantities, such as depth and volume of runoff, are performed in the attribute tables of GIS layers, in order to assemble all results in the same environment. The accomplished results show that the runoff depth in Makkah, using a 50-years return period, range from 128.1 mm to 193.9 mm while the peak discharge vary from 1063 m/s to 4489 m/s. The total flood volume is expected to reach 172.97 million m over Makkah metropolitan area. The advantages of the developed methodology include precision, cost-effective, digital outputs, and its ability to be re-run in other conditions.