An analysis of the challenges of villages hit by flood in Golestan Province (Case study: Villages in the central district of Aq Qala County)

In the last decade, the number of floods has increased about 10 times compared to the1340s. In March 2019, in many provinces of Iran, including Golestan Province, especially Aq Qala County, due to heavy and sudden rain, a flash flood occurred, which caused financial and human losses. This study is in applied form and the terms of the method is descriptive-analytical based on field studies. The statistical population of the present study is the households of six villages in the central district of Aq Qala County, which includes 4639 households according to the 2016 census. 270 people were selected as a sample by using Cochran's formula. The reliability of the research components was obtained by using the Cronbach-alpha coefficient which is equal to 0/82 The selected samples after being tested were analyzed by using SPSS software and Chi-square, Friedman, Kruskal-Wallis, and ANOVA / Duncan. The results of Chi-square correlation analysis illustrate that each of the studied factors has a 99% relationship to the flood damage in the studied villages. Moreover, the results of the Friedman test show a significant difference up to 99% confidence level. According to the obtained results from the Kruskal-Wallis test, in terms of natural components, there is no difference in the amount of damage between villages, and only for the component of encroachment on the river and construction in its area, there is a significant difference between villages at the level of 95%. Comparison of the average damage between the six studied villages through the ANOVA test shows that there is a significant difference of 99% between the villages in the amount of damage in their different parts. Based on this, different villages were grouped through Duncan's post hoc test, which explains the amount of damage.  The cause of different damage to villages depends on the slope of the land, the height of the village above sea level, and especially the proximity to the river floods of Qarah Su and Gorganrud. Although the villages of Sahne Sofla, Dugunchi, and Yampi were hit by the flood because of the heavy rains in a short period, suffered less damage than the villages of Qanqormeh, Yolmeh Khandan, and Chensouli. After all, the lack of dredging of rivers, gradual encroachment on river’s territory, and the random destruction of riverbeds have also increased the severity of the destructive effects of floods in the studied villages.