Flood Hazard Zonation Based on Multi Criteria Assessment using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques: A Case Study of Tungabhadra and Hagari River Sub catchments in North-East Karnataka, India

Flood is a relatively high flow of water that overtops the natural and artificial banks in any of the reaches of a stream. When banks are overtopped, water spreads over flood plain and generally causes problem for inhabitants, crops and vegetation. The present study aims to estimate Flood hazard zonation for Thungabhadra and Hagari river sub catchments based on multi criteria assessment using remote sensing data (Fused data of Cartosat-1 PAN and Resourcesat-2 LISS-IV Mx images) in a GIS environment. The factors which are limited for the study are land use, slope, soil, Lith-Geom (Lithology-Geomorphology), drainage density, size of sub watershed and rainfall distribution. The weighted overlay analysis method is adopted to generate the Flood hazard zonation map. The resultant flood hazard zonation map of the study area depicts the total area is subjected to five categories such as very high hazard (17%), high hazard (32%), moderate hazard (30%), low hazard (14%) and very low hazard zones (7%). The results of this study can initiate appropriate measures to mitigate the probable flood hazard in the study area.