CASE STUDY-1

Title: Flood Hazard Assessment and Mapping of Flood Prone Areas Using
ArcGIS and Google Earth Engine of Shirol Tehsil

Abstract
Flood is the gravest natural disaster and it is necessary for the government and disaster
experts to monitor and assess the damage. As the adoption of traditional approaches like
structural measures (i.e. dikes, bypass channels, reservoir etc) are time taking and expensive,
with advances in Remote Sensing And Geographic Information System, Availability of free
Satellite data , platforms for analysis made experts job easy. The Study is mainly focused on
flood hazard assessment and Mapping of flood prone areas of shirol tehsil which is
continuously suffering from flood in every monsoon by using ArcGIS and Google Earth
Engine. The Digital Elevation Model of 30m resolution from Cartosat downloaded from
bhuvan portal and Sentinel-1 (SAR) satellite image of shirol tehsil. Flood Hazard Assessment
requires a series of parameters like Digital Elevation Model (DEM), slope, land use land cover,
annual precipitation data, flow length, river distany, stream connections by adding this all
parameters the flood hazard zone is estimated in ArcGIS. Shirol tehsil is located in kolhapur
district has a Krishna and Pamchganga river which causes flood during every rainy season. In
ArcGIS various tools like Data Management Tools, Spatial Analyst Tools, Flow Accumulation
Tools, Condition Tools, Overlay Tools etc. are used for flood hazard mapping. The weighted
sum of slope, flow length, precipitation, river distance, LULC, DEM gives a final output as a
flood hazard map. Mapping Of Flood prone areas or extent was obtained using a change
detection approach on Sentinel-1 (SAR) data with the help of JRC Global surface water dataset
extent of flood was derived. Results revealed that about 39.77 sq.km area was under flood in
2021. Based on the results it can be concluded that Remote Sensing and Geographic
Information System has great potential for rapid flood hazard mapping.

Keywords: Flood, Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, ArcGIS, Google
Earth Engine, Digital Elevation Model, JRC Global Surface Water Dataset.

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I. Introduction
India is prone to a large number of natural as well as man-made disasters. Over 40
million hectares (12% of land) is prone to floods. Maharashtra is largely vulnerable to floods.
It may be noted that there are many man-made reasons for the occurrence of floods. Analyzing
the floods in Maharashtra; one observes that most floods in Maharashtra are flash floods due
to nallah-overflows and Poor-drainage system.
1.1 Floods
A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land that is usually dry and it occurs as
an overflow of water from waterbodies. Floods usually comes under natural disaster. It mostly
occurs or take place during heavy rainfalls. Floods are often characterized by a high volume of
water in a short period of time and flood risk is often associated with occurrence of heavy
rainfall. Flood is the most prevalent and costliest natural disaster in the world which devastates
both life and economy at a large extent.
1.2 Causes of Floods in Shirol Tehsil
This causes are reported in report Causes of Floods in Upper Krishna basin Of
Maharashtra by Chandrakant Narhari Kale.
1.2.1 Almatti Dam
Though, it is not officially established, the severe flood condition in Sangli district and
near Shirol tehsils of Kolhapur district is due to Almatti dam, constructed on the Krishna River
in Bijapur district in Karnataka State. It is about 260 km from Sangli town. The height of
Almatti dam is about 519 meters from sea level and almost the same height is also recorded at
Shirol tehsil and Sangli (527 m). It reveals that all the discharge and run-off from Krishna basin
is collected in Almatti dam. Therefore, the completed plain area of Sangli, Shirol to Almatti
has drowned under floods.
1.2.2 Underground Water level
The underground water table has increased considerably, which is at ground level
during the rainy season. Hence during the floods, due to increase watertable, water is not
absorbed and percolated in the soil, but volume of runoff is increased which creates severe
floods.
1.2.3 Cropping Pattern
Due to vast expansion of canal and lift irrigation schemes in Krishna and it's tributaries;
about 70% sown area is under irrigation. During the rainy season, Adsali crop is about 2 to 3
m high, which resists flow of flood water and makes the flood situation more serious and worse.

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1.2.4 River Bridges and Kolhapur type (K.T.) Weirs
River Bridges increase the flood level by some meter more than the actual flood level
which took place during 2005 and 2006. The Kolhapur type Weirs deposit the sand and silt
which make river bed shallow as this is one of the important causes of flood in the Kolhapur
district.

Figure 1: Floods in Shirol Tehsil

1.3 Role of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System in Flood Hazard
Assessment
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System provides a database for disaster
management in order to produce hazard maps, indicating which area is potentially dangerous.
Using remote Sensing data, such as satellite imageries, digital elevation model with its large
synoptic overview; allows us to map the variability of terrain properties and obtaining the
needed analysis. Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System also allows monitoring
the event during the time of occurrence. It can assist in damage assessment monitoring and
flood mapping in order to provide a quantitative base for relief operations. Therefore, Remote
Sensing and Geographic Information System are very useful environment to model because of
its advantages of data storage, display and maintenance.

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II. Objectives
1. To create Slope, Land Use Land Cover, Annual Precipitation, Flow length and DEM
maps of Shirol tehsil.
2. To create Flood Hazard map of Shirol tehsil for year 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
3. To generate the flood affected area map of flood event occurred in 2021.
4. To estimate the common villages affected by flood of Shirol tehsil in year 2018, 2019,
2020 and 2021.
III. Need
1. Flood hazard assessment provides a visual representation of flood risks for awareness
raising in local community and also improves land use planning, limiting development
in flood prone areas.
2. This Assessment identifies and protects wetlands, forests or other ecosystem that could
provide flood protection benefits.
3. It improves flood management and response planning.
IV. Study Area
Kolhapur district is divided mainly in two parts, the eastern and the western. The eastern
side covers Shirol, Hatkanangale, Karveer and Kagal tahsils. The western side covers Panhala,
Shahuwadi, Gaganbawada, Radhanagari, Ajara and Chandgad Tahsils. In the present study
Shirol tehsil was selected as the study area for investigation, which is one of the developed
tehsils in Kolhapur district. It is situated from 16.370 N to 16.520 N latitudes and from 74.270
E to 74.420 E longitudes. It has 507.9 sq. km land constituting 6.15% geographical area of the
Kolhapur district. The population is 4,10,136 lakh and density are 707 per sq. km as per the
census of 2011. There are 54 village and 02 municipalities. Territorially, Shirol tehsil has
Sangli district to its north, Belgum district of Karnataka state to its south and east while
Hatkangle tehsil to its west. Shirol taluka is a vast plain area slopping eastward and bounded
by the Krishna, the Panchganga, the Dudhganga and Warana rivers. The distinguishing features
of topography of the taluka are unlike Deccan plateau, with an average height of 600 meters
above the sea level. 41 villages from Shirol taluka are located in plain area.
Shirol is the only tehsil in Kolhapur district, where co-operative lift irrigation societies
have made tremendous progress as this teshil is richly drained by the rivers of Panchganga and
Krishna, which are united at Narasobawadi. The Warana and the Dudhganga are two other
tributaries, which flow in Shirol tehsil. All the rivers help to increase the surface irrigation by
means of lift irrigation. Among various crops, sugarcane is the main crop in irrigated land. The

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average annual temperature is 25.5 °C in Shirol. Precipitation here averages 654 mm. This
region is topographically complex, having river valley flood plains to the east and hilly ranges
to the west. Climatically this region haves temperate climate.The area under study grows a
variety of crops. Among the irrigated crops sugarcane alone shares over 3/4th of the irrigated
land followed by rice (7.07%), wheat (4.57%), fruits, vegetables, condiments and spices.
The soils of the district are developed over soft weathered and hard ruptured basalt and
occur on nearly levelled to very gentle sloping upper and lower pediments. The major crops
cultivated are sugarcane, banana, mango, sorghum and soybean, groundnut, chickpea and other
vegetable crops. The forest trees like teakwood, neem and bamboo are also planted on bunds
and uncropped land.

Figure 2: Location Map of Study Area

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V. Data Used
Table 1: Descriptions of Dataset Used
Sr.no Dataset Used Resolution Source/Provider

1. Indian Subdistrict Boundary _ www.igismap.com

Shapefile
2. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) 2.5m bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in
3. High resolution annual 0.5m crudata.uea.ac.uk
precipitation netcdf data
4. Sentinel Land Cover data 10m Environmental System
Research Institute (ESRI)
5. Sentinel-1 SAR GRD; C Band 10m Copernicus
(scihub.copernicus.eu)
6. JRC Global Surface Water 30m European Commission Joint
Research Centre (EC JRC)
7. WWF Hydro SHEDS 3 arc second World Wild Life (WWF)
VI. Methodology
6.1 Creation of Flood Hazard Map in ArcGIS
For generating a flood hazard map, we need relevant dataset. This dataset we get from
the portals like bhuvan, crudata, ESRI etc. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of resolution
2.5 m downloaded from bhuvan portal is an accurate dataset which gives us a slope, flowlength,
stream order, for a particular study area. Firstly, add the DEM in ArcGIS through the add data.
Then by using clip tool from Raster Processing of Data Management Toolbox clip the Digital
Elevation Model for a study area. The DEM of a study area is our 1sr dataset we get. Next then
by using Slope tool from Surface of Spatial Analyst Toolbox generate the slope in percent rise
for our study area.
As our 3rd dataset required is River Distance, hence firstly create or generate a Fill
DEM from a Clip DEM by using Fill tool from hydrology of Spatial Analyst Toolbox. Now
use flow direction tool from hydrology of Spatial Analyst Toolbox to find the flow direction
from fill DEM. Then by uploading flow direction the flow accumulation is generated. By
combining the flow direction and flow accumulation the stream order is found. The stream
order is conditional to a true or false values of order 9.8.7.6 etc by using expression tool from
Spatial Analyst Toolbox. Now convert the stream order to line features by using stream to

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 feature tool from Spatial Analyst Toolbox. To calculate the upstream and downstream distance
the flowlength tool from Spatial Analyst Toolbox is used. Remove the unwanted layers.By
using Euclidean distance tools from Spatial Analyst Toolbox the river distance our 3rd dataset
is calculated.
Add land use land cover data of study area. Convert that data to raster data by using Polygon
to Raster tool from Conversion Toolbox. The land use land cover dataset ha get generated.
After this add annual precipitation map of study area which acts as 5th dataset in our whole
process. To combine this dataset, we need to reclassify the all datasets which we have
generated. By using Reclass tool from Spatial Analyst Toolbox, reclassify all datasets including
slope, DEM, flow length, LULC and Precipitation. By using Weighted Sum tool from Spatial
Analyst Toolbox, summing of all reclassified layer is carried out and the flood hazard map is
generated. This combination process requires the datasets in common scale hence all the
datasets are reclassed.

Step Wise Flowcharts

Digital Elevation Model Slope River Distance

(Step 1st) ( Step 2nd ) ( Step 3rd )

Download Cartosat DEM Click On ArcToolBox Click On ArcToolBox

From Bhuvan Portal
Select Spatial Analyst Select Spatial Analyst
ToolBox ToolBox
Open ArcGIS

Click On Distance
Add Shirol Shapefile Click On Surface
Select Euclidean Distance
Select Data Management Select Slope
ToolBox Upload Flow Length
Upload ClipDEM
Click On Clip And Clip it Run
Select ‘Percent Rise’
Clip DEM Appears Flow chart 3: Creation of River
Run Distance
Flow chart 1: Creation of Flow chart 2: Creation of Slope
DEM

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 DEM Creation

Slope Estimation

River Distance
Estimation

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Precipitation
(Step 4th )
Download ‘ High
Resolution precipitation
netcdf data’
Open ArcGIS
Click On ArcToolBox
Select Multidimension
Toolbox
Click on Make NetCDF
layer and add the data
Add Shirol Shapefile
Right-Click on NetCDF
Layer
Select DataFrame
Right-Click on New
NetCDF Layer
Select Bands
Click On Composite Band
Click On Local
Select Cell Statistics
Perform IDW
Interpolation
Flow chart 4: Creation of Precipitation
Step Wise Flowcharts
Land Use Land Cover
( Step 5th )
Download ‘Sentinel
LandCover From ESRI
Portal’
Open ArcGIS
Add Shirol Shapefile
Select Data Management
ToolBox
Click On Clip and Clip it
Flow chart 5: Creation
of LULC
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Flood Hazard Zone
( Step 6th )
Reclass All Above created
Datasets
Click On ArcToolBox
Select Spatial Analyst
ToolBox
Click On Overlay Tool
Select ‘Weighted Sum’
Add All Reclass Datasets
Click On Sum
Run
Flow chart 6: Creation of
Flood Hazard Zone
 Precipitation
Estimation

LULC Estimation

Flood Hazard
Zones Estimation

6.2 Estimation of Flood Affected Areas in Google Earth Engine

Sentinel-1A SAR data was used to generate the flood extent map based on a Change
Detection approach (CD) where a before-flood image and a during-flood image were
compared. The pre-processing techniques used before the generation of the map were thermal
noise removal, radiometric calibration, speckle filter, and terrain correction. The GEE platform
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is used for performing all pre-processing steps. A speckle filter with a smoothing radius of 50
m was applied during the processing to reduce the effect of the granular noise. The terrain
correction is applied to rectify the geometric distortions inherent in SAR images. To estimate
the changes due to flooding, the during-flood mosaics were divided by the before-flood
mosaics using a threshold of 1.25. Then, the binary raster layer is created with the threshold
value of 1.25, assigning 1 to all the values greater than 1.25 (flood pixels) and 0 to all values
less than 1.25 (non-flood pixels). The ‘VH’ polarization was preferred for flood mapping
because of the overestimation of results obtained through ‘VV’ polarization. VV polarization
is susceptible to vertical structures, whereas VH polarization is more sensitive to the changes
on the land surface. VH polarization is more suitable for determining the flood-affected areas
as it manifests higher dark and black tones as compared to VV polarization. Atlast, by
comparing before and after flood event the area affected by flood is estimated.

Flood Area Mapping

Sentinel-1 imagery

Automatic Preprocessing

Before-Flood Mosaic After-Flood Mosaic

Speckle -Filter Speckle-Filter

Change Detection

Difference Layer

Apply Threshold

Binary Flood Extent

Layer

Exclude Areas with > 5%

slope

Exclude permanent water

Flow chart 7: Creation of Flood Hazard Zone in Google Earth Pro

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 Scripting In Google
Earth Engine

Initial Flood
Estimation

Flooded Area
Estimation

Estimation Of Area
Affected By Flood in
sq.km (Hectares)

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VII. Results and Discussion
7.1 Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a representation of the base ground (base earth)
or it is a digital representation of ground surface topography or terrain. Digital Elevation Model
provides elevation data of a study area. The elevation raster layers are created with the help of
the ArcGIS environment and the DEM. Using the reclassification tool in the ArcGIS
environment, the elevation raster layers were further classified into five groups. Flooding was
less of an issue higher elevation and Flooding was more of a lower elevation. The Five classes
were the Very high elevation (720m), High elevation (697), Moderate (600), Low (550) and
very low (443). The DEM shows that most of the area of Shirol Tehsil has very low elevation
hence there are maximum possibility of Floods.

Figure 3: Shirol DEM Map

Parameter Maximum Minimum

Elevation 720m 443m

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7.2 Slope
The slope is the ratio of rise (vertical increase) to run (horizontal increase).Slope is an
important indicator of flood-prone surface zones. Slope is an important factor in determining
the rate and duration of water flow. Water moves more slowly, collects for a longer period of
time, and accumulates on flatter surfaces, making them more vulnerable to flooding than
steeper surfaces. Lower slope values represented flatter topography that was especially
vulnerable to flooding, whereas higher slope values represented steeper topography that was
less vulnerable to flooding. Using the reclassification tool in the ArcGIS environment, the slope
raster layers were further classified into five groups. The Five classes were the Very high slope
(56.15), High slope (35.5), Moderate (24), Low (12.33) and very low (2.20). The Slope Map
shows that most of the area of Shirol Tehsil has very low slope hence there are maximum
possibility of Floods.

Figure 4: Shirol Slope Map

Parameter Maximum Minimum

Slope 56.15° 2.20°

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7.3 Flow Length
Flow length is the upstream or downstream distance, or weighted distance, along the
flow path for each cell. As the flow length increases the flood intensity also get increased when
it is very low the floods do not occur. Using the reclassification tool in the ArcGIS environment,
the Flow Length raster layers were further classified into five groups. The Five classes were
the Very high, High, Moderate, Low and Very low. The Flow Length Map shows that most of
the area of Shirol Tehsil has very high flow length hence there are maximum possibility of
Floods.

Figure 5: Shirol Flowlength Map

7.4 Precipitation
Precipitation is a significant factor in creating a flood danger map. The Precipitation
map was created using the inverse distance weight method from historical precipitation data
collected from meteorological stations located in and around the study area. Precipitation
intensity is important in causing flooding, so weight was assigned to precipitation classes. The
greater the amount of precipitation, the greater the flood-producing runoff, and vice versa.
Using the reclassification tool in the ArcGIS environment, the Precipitation raster layers were
further classified into five groups. The Five classes were the Very high (1,243-1,185mm), High

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(1,185mm-1,129mm), Moderate (1,129mm-1,107mm), Low (1,107mm-941mm) and very low
(941mm-881mm). The Precipitation Map shows that the area where the union of Krishna and
Panchganga river unites the amount of precipitation is very high and as the shirol has totally
falling slope hence the flow of water is towards downwards towards Almatti dam and this
increases the possibilities of floods.

Figure 6: Shirol Precipitation Map

Parameter Maximum Minimum

Precipitation 1,243mm 881 mm

7.5 Land Use Land Cover

Land use land cover (LULC) refers to the type of soil deposits and the distribution of
built-up areas, cropland, grassland, shrubland and forestland within a given region. The LULC
of a study area play an important role in flood water movement by impeding, delaying or
accelerating surface flow. The LULC of the study area influences infiltration rates, the
interaction of surface and groundwater, and debris flow. As settlements expand in size,
impervious cover increases while forest cover decreases, contributing to an increase in run-off.

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 Figure 7: Shirol LULC Map

7.6 Flood Hazard Zone Map

Flood hazard maps are the maps which define the areas which are at a risk of flood
under extreme conditions. As the following image below represents the flood hazard map of
Shirol tehsil located in Kolhapur district. As the map shows the red colour portion has very
high floods possibilities. The villages coming under the red zone are Dattawad, Dhanwad,
Ghosarwadi, Howad, Akiwat, Rajapur, Khurapur, Alas, Bastwad, Yerward, Malwadi,
Kavathevera, Kolhali, Kanwad, Harur. Orange colour represents the villages with high flood
possibilities while yellow, light pink and grey plays their role at their range. Above all five
parameters has affect on the flood hazard zone maps. They involve in each phase of flood and
affects its occurrence or its intensity. The Shirol Tehsil has all these parameters in the favour
of flood occurrence as the Almatti as a main reason behind the flooding increases the intensity
of flood in the river side villages as wells as in shirol tehsil. Flooding occurs as these maps
show so we should do or our government should carry out some measures to avoid floodings
in Shirol tehsil. As the Shirol in 2018 has less flood hazard risk as compare to 2018 due to the
variations in parameters like Precipitation and Land Use Land Cover. The Annual Rainfall in
2018 was 657.32mm and in 2021 was 1,243mm. Hence in 2018 due to changes in Precipitation
and LULC the flood hazard zone varies.

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Figure 8: Shirol Flood Hazard Zone Map 2021

Figure 9: Shirol Flood Hazard Zone Map 2020

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Figure 10: Shirol Flood Hazard Zone Map 2019

Figure 11: Shirol Flood Hazard Zone Map 2018

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7.7 Actual Flood Affected Areas of Shirol Tehsil in 2021 Floods
As this affected area is generated in Google Earth Engine platform it shows most of the
villages which were shown at risk in above flood hazard map are affected by floods during the
flood of 2021. So above flood hazard map gives us an accurate information about the areas
which are going to be affected during floods. Hence this will help in mitigation process of flood
like natural disaster. Below the image shows the affected areas of Shirol tehsil during 2021
floods. As the 39700 hectares (39.7 sq.km) area was under flood during the flood of 2021.

Figure 12: Flood Affected Areas of Shirol Tehsil In 2021 Floods

VII. Conclusions
1. Digital Elevation Model and Slope plays an important role in Flood hazard zone mapping
the shirol has low elevation and low slope, so it has caused the continuously occurrence
of floods.
2. The Precipitation, LULC and Flow length maps are created in ArcGIS which affects in
the occurrence of flood conditions, i.e., the continuous raining increase the flow length of
both the rivers krishna and panchganga as they unite the flow gets double and also the
settlements are coming close to the river basins.
3. The 3970 hectares (39.7 sq.km) area was under flood during the flood of 2021.
4. By comparing the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 flood hazard zone maps the common
villages affected by flood during 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 are Kavathe piran
(17.97sq.km), Kothali (15.03 sq.km), Umalwaf (5.06 sq.km), Ghosarwad (12.21sq.km),
Latwadi (1.66 sq.km), Terwad (10.43 sq.km), Shirdhon (18.83 sq.km), yadrav (8.46
sq.km), Shiradwad (5.23 sq.km), Kavathe sar (7.34 sq.km), Jambhali (6.22 sq.km),
Dattawad (16.04 sq.km), Jainapur (7.0 sq.km).

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IX. References
1. Maharashtra State Disaster Management plan by State Disaster Management Authority,
Mumbai.
2. re.
3. GIS-based flood hazard mapping at different administrative scale by Joy Sonyal.
4. Application Of Remote Sensing In Flood Management with spatial reference by Joy
Sonyal.
5. Flood Mapping and Damage Assessment of Mahad Tehsil Using Google Earth Engine by
Chaitanya Badave.
6. https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/landcover/.
7. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13201-022-01674-8#ref-CR50.

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