Analysis of debris flow of Kuranji River in Padang City using rainfall data, remote sensing and geographical information system

Abstract

Flash flood is the most common environmental hazard worldwide. This phenomenon is usually occurs due to intense and prolonged rainfall spells on saturated ground. When there is a rapid rise in water levels and high flow-velocities of the stream occur, the channel overflows and the result is a flash flood. Flash floods normally cause a dangerous wall of roaring water carrying rocks, mud and other debris. On Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 18:00 pm, a flash flood (debris flow) struck Kuranji River whereby 19 urban villages in seven (7) sub-districts in the city of Padang were affected by this flood disaster. The temporary loss estimated is 40 Billion US Dollar reported by the West Sumatra Provincial Government due to many damages of the built environment infrastructures. This include damaged houses of 878 units, mosque 15 units, irrigation damaged 12 units, bridges 6 units, schools 2 units and health posts 1 unit. Generally, widely used methods for making a landslide study are Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing techniques. The landslide information extracted from remotely sensed products is mainly related to morphology, vegetation and hydrologic conditions of a slope. While GIS is used to create a database, data management, data display and to analyze data such as thematic maps of land use/land cover, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), rainfall data and soil texture. This paper highlights the analysis of the condition of the Watershed Kuranji River experiencing flash floods, using remote sensing satellite image of Landsat ETM 7 in 2009 and 2012 and Geographic Information System (GIS). Furthermore, the data was analyzed to determine whether this flash flood occurred due to extreme rain or collapse of existing natural dams in the upstream of the Kuranji River.