Flood hazard potential zonation of Babolrood watershed using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method (FAHP)

Flood is one of the most complex and destructive natural events that endangers social, economic and environmental conditions more than any other natural disaster. Due to the existence of suitable conditions in the areas adjacent to the rivers, most economic activities are carried out in these areas and due to the role of habitat destruction in the extinction of plant and animal species, it is necessary to study flooding and Preparation of flood zoning maps of the mentioned areas should be given priority. In this research, to achieve this goal, nine natural and human factors including: altitude, distance from waterway, drainage network density, slope, land use, land shape, vegetation density, geology and rainfall have been used. Each of the factors, by their nature, is fuzzy in the flood zoning potential zoning model and is used. By forming pairwise comparison matrices, the normal and final weight of each factor was obtained. Using ArcGIS software, each fuzzy layer was multiplied by its relative weight, and finally the weighted fuzzy layers were stacked using the Gamma operator, and the final map was obtained. The final flood zonation map of Babolrood watershed showed that in total about 44% of the basin area is in the moderate to very high risk zone. There is also the highest risk of floods in the southwestern parts of the basin, which have high altitudes and heavy rainfall.