Multidisciplinary Assessment of Environmental Impacts of Dam Breach Floods

Abstract

Dam breach floods pose a serious risk to downstream communities and ecosystems. This study presents a multidisciplinary framework for assessing the environmental consequences of dam breach floods, integrating hydrodynamic modeling, geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based surveys, and machine learning techniques. The Jetpura Dam breach (July 2017), located in Banaskantha district, Gujarat, was selected as a case study due to extensive flooding along the Rel River. High-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) were developed using DJI Phantom UAV data, complemented by CARTOSAT DEM and Sentinel-2 land cover imagery. Hydrological assessment using HEC-HMS and NASA’s GPM rainfall data (via Google Earth Engine) enabled rainfall–runoff estimation in this data-scarce region. Flood propagation and hydraulic behavior were simulated using HEC-RAS, producing flood depth, velocity, and inundation maps. Model performance was validated using Support Vector Regression (SVR), obtaining high correlation coefficients (R² = 0.91 for discharge and 0.86 for water levels). Environmental impacts were quantified in terms of sediment transport, soil erosion, land degradation, and disruption of ecological stability.The framework strengthens flood hazard assessment and supports sustainable disaster risk management and environmental restoration strategies.