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Causes and consequences of recent floods in the Golestan catchments and Caspian Sea regions of Iran

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  • Forood Sharifi
  • S. Samadi
  • Catherine Wilson

Abstract

In August 2001, the worst flash flooding event of the Caspian Sea regions in over two centuries claimed over 300 lives after a weekend of heavy rainfall and brought about a devastating disaster in the Mother-Soo catchment, province of Golestan, Iran. As a result of this event, a series of site investigation were carried out to identify the pertinent factors that led to a flood of this magnitude. This paper identifies the fundamental causes of the frequent floods and debris flow occurrence in the area prone to flooding and analyzes the main runoff mechanism of these events. The maximum observed 24-h rainfall depths and maximum peak discharges at the existing gauges were compared with the depths of rainfall and the peak values corresponding to the August 2001 flood respectively. For the majority of the rain gauges, the rainfall depth exceeded those of historical recorded events. In Golestan dam, an increase of 7.5 times the maximum value observed in the past 20 years was noted. The flood height was 10–15 m while passing through the middle subcatchment area of Golestan National Park. The preliminary evaluation indicates the existence of bare soil in the catchment, movable material, steep slopes, high rainfall intensity, deterioration of pasture and forest land, and inappropriate agriculture and development practices as well as climate change were the main factors for the occurrence and the extent of the August 2001 disaster. Finally, due to the likelihood of flooding and debris flow events in future, some countermeasures are proposed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Forood Sharifi & S. Samadi & Catherine Wilson, 2012. "Causes and consequences of recent floods in the Golestan catchments and Caspian Sea regions of Iran," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 61(2), pages 533-550, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:61:y:2012:i:2:p:533-550
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-011-9934-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Babak Omidvar & Hanieh Khodaei, 2008. "Using value engineering to optimize flood forecasting and flood warning systems: Golestan and Golabdare watersheds in Iran as case studies," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 47(3), pages 281-296, December.
    2. Saeed Golian & Bahram Saghafian & Reza Maknoon, 2010. "Derivation of Probabilistic Thresholds of Spatially Distributed Rainfall for Flood Forecasting," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(13), pages 3547-3559, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Suzanne A. G. Leroy & Raisa Gracheva & Andrei Medvedev, 2022. "Natural hazards and disasters around the Caspian Sea," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 114(3), pages 2435-2478, December.
    2. Omid Rahmati & Ali Haghizadeh & Stefanos Stefanidis, 2016. "Assessing the Accuracy of GIS-Based Analytical Hierarchy Process for Watershed Prioritization; Gorganrood River Basin, Iran," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(3), pages 1131-1150, February.
    3. Masoud Saatsaz, 2020. "A historical investigation on water resources management in Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1749-1785, March.
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    5. Raoof Mostafazadeh & Amir Sadoddin & Abdolreza Bahremand & Vahed Berdi Sheikh & Arash Zare Garizi, 2017. "Scenario analysis of flood control structures using a multi-criteria decision-making technique in Northeast Iran," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 87(3), pages 1827-1846, July.
    6. Deqiang Cheng & Chunliu Gao, 2022. "Regionalization Research of Mountain-Hazards Developing Environments for the Eurasian Continent," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, September.
    7. Morteza Miri & Tayeb Raziei & Mehran Zand & Mohammad Reza Kousari, 2023. "Synoptic aspects of two flash flood-inducing heavy rainfalls in southern Iran during 2019–2020," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 115(3), pages 2655-2672, February.
    8. Mehrnoosh Taherizadeh & Arman Niknam & Thong Nguyen-Huy & Gábor Mezősi & Reza Sarli, 2023. "Flash flood-risk areas zoning using integration of decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory, GIS-based analytic network process and satellite-derived information," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 118(3), pages 2309-2335, September.
    9. Zahra Afzali-Gorouh & Alireza Faridhosseini & Bahram Bakhtiari & Abolfazl Mosaedi & Nasrin Salehnia, 2022. "Monitoring and projection of climate change impact on 24-h probable maximum precipitation in the Southeast of Caspian Sea," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 114(1), pages 77-99, October.
    10. Hamid Bashiri-Atrabi & Kourosh Qaderi & David Rheinheimer & Erfaneh Sharifi, 2015. "Application of Harmony Search Algorithm to Reservoir Operation Optimization," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(15), pages 5729-5748, December.
    11. Vahedberdi Sheikh & Aiding Kornejady & Majid Ownegh, 2019. "Application of the coupled TOPSIS–Mahalanobis distance for multi-hazard-based management of the target districts of the Golestan Province, Iran," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 96(3), pages 1335-1365, April.
    12. Hassan Faramarzi & Seyed Mohsen Hosseini & Hamid Reza Pourghasemi & Mahdi Farnaghi, 2023. "Using machine learning techniques in multi-hazards assessment of Golestan National Park, Iran," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(3), pages 3231-3255, July.
    13. Omvir Singh & Manish Kumar, 2013. "Flood events, fatalities and damages in India from 1978 to 2006," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(3), pages 1815-1834, December.

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