Flood hazard assessment and mapping using GIS integrated with multi-criteria decision analysis in upper Awash River basin, Ethiopia

Abstract Floods have destroyed people’s lives as well as social and environmental assets. Flooding is becoming more severe and frequent as a result of climate change and an increase in human-induced land-use changes, which puts pressure on river channels and causes changes in river morphology. The study was aimed to assess flood danger and map inundation areas in Ethiopia’s Teji watershed, which is prone to flooding. The basic flood-producing factors in this study were derived from soil, slope, elevation, drainage-density and land use land cover data. The opinions of public institutions and expert decisions were gathered to determine the weight of the factors in the analytic hierarchy process. The collected data were processed using the ArcGIS environment and the analytic hierarchy method to produce a flood danger map. According to the findings of this study, approximately 43.28 and 13.09% of the area were vulnerable to high and very high flood risk zones, respectively. As a result, flood prediction, early warning and management practices could be implemented on a regular and sustainable basis.