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Debilitating floods in the Sahel are becoming frequent

Elagib, Nadir Ahmed; Zayed, Islam Sabry Al; Saad, Suhair A. Gayoum; Mahmood, Mohamad Ibrahim; Basheer, Mohammed; Fink, Andreas H. 1
1 Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung (IMK), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

Despite the long-lasting and widespread drought in the Sahel, flood events did punctuate in the past. The concern about floods remains dwarf on the international research and policy agenda compared to droughts. In this paper, we elucidate that floods in the Sahel are now becoming more frequent, widespread, and more devastating. We analyzed gridded daily rainfall data over the period 1981–2020, used photographs and satellite images to depict flood areas and threats, compiled and studied flood-related statistics over the past two decades, and supported the results with peer-reviewed literature. Our analysis revealed that the timing of the maximum daily rainfall occurs from the last week of July to mid-August in the Eastern Sahel, but from the last week of July to the end of August in the Western Sahel. In 2019 and 2020, flash and riverine floods took their toll in Sudan and elsewhere in the region in terms of the number of affected people, direct deaths, destroyed and damaged houses and croplands, contaminated water resources, and disease outbreaks and deaths. Changes in rainfall intensity, human interventions in the physical environment, and poor urban planning play a major role in driving catastrophic floods. ... mehr


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000132495
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126362
Scopus
Zitationen: 27
Web of Science
Zitationen: 23
Dimensions
Zitationen: 30
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Troposphärenforschung (IMKTRO)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsmonat/-jahr 08.2021
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 0022-1694
KITopen-ID: 1000132495
HGF-Programm 12.11.34 (POF IV, LK 01) Improved predictions from weather to climate scales
Erschienen in Journal of hydrology
Verlag Elsevier
Band 599
Seiten Article no: 126362
Schlagwörter Flash flood, Riverine flood, Flood impact, Flood forecasting, Adaptation, Extremes, Sahel
Nachgewiesen in Dimensions
Web of Science
Scopus
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