Many coastal cities in developing countries are at the risk of flooding due to a progressive increase in the built-up areas and poor management of stormwater. The flooding situation in coastal cities gets accentuated further due to climate induced natural disasters such as cyclones and climate change induced sea-level rise that adversely impact the city’s natural drainage potential. This study developed a composite urban flood risk index consisting of three sub-indices and 20 key natural, physical, social, and economic influencing variables for a coastal city (i.e. Cuttack) in eastern India, the intensity of storm runoff being one among the many. The intensity-duration-frequency curve developed shows that the city can experience floods with a peak discharge of 1,320 cubic metre per second every alternate year for a rainfall intensity of 2-hour duration. The urban flood risk index computed for all the city wards shows that out of the 59 wards, only one ward has low flood risk (index value < 0.40) and 20 wards are at high risk (index value 0.55 and above) from the urban flood. Thereafter, factors leading to high risk due to urban floods were identified and the institutional capacities available with the urban utility for fighting floods analyzed.

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Posted 02 Jun, 2021
On 24 Aug, 2021
Received 05 Jul, 2021
On 20 May, 2021
Posted 02 Jun, 2021
On 24 Aug, 2021
Received 05 Jul, 2021
On 20 May, 2021
Many coastal cities in developing countries are at the risk of flooding due to a progressive increase in the built-up areas and poor management of stormwater. The flooding situation in coastal cities gets accentuated further due to climate induced natural disasters such as cyclones and climate change induced sea-level rise that adversely impact the city’s natural drainage potential. This study developed a composite urban flood risk index consisting of three sub-indices and 20 key natural, physical, social, and economic influencing variables for a coastal city (i.e. Cuttack) in eastern India, the intensity of storm runoff being one among the many. The intensity-duration-frequency curve developed shows that the city can experience floods with a peak discharge of 1,320 cubic metre per second every alternate year for a rainfall intensity of 2-hour duration. The urban flood risk index computed for all the city wards shows that out of the 59 wards, only one ward has low flood risk (index value < 0.40) and 20 wards are at high risk (index value 0.55 and above) from the urban flood. Thereafter, factors leading to high risk due to urban floods were identified and the institutional capacities available with the urban utility for fighting floods analyzed.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13
The full text of this article is available to read as a PDF.
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