Mapping flood susceptibility with PROMETHEE multi-criteria analysis method

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Geospatial Analysis
• Natural Hazard Assessment

Background:

• Flooding is a major global natural hazard with escalating impacts.
• Accurate detection of flood-prone areas is essential for effective mitigation strategies.
• Existing multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods require comparative evaluation for flood susceptibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate the PROMETHEE method integrated with GIS for flood susceptibility mapping.
• To compare the performance of PROMETHEE against conventional MCDA methods (AHP, TOPSIS).
• To identify key flood conditioning factors and map susceptibility zones in the Spercheios river basin.

Main Methods:

• Development of a geospatial database with eight flood conditioning factors (elevation, slope, NDVI, TWI, geology, LULC, distance to river, rainfall).
• Application of PROMETHEE, AHP, and TOPSIS methods for flood susceptibility modeling.
• Validation using a flood inventory and evaluation metrics including AUC, accuracy, RMSE, and FR.

Main Results:

• The PROMETHEE model demonstrated superior performance with an AUC of 97.21%, 87.54% accuracy, and 0.12 RMSE.
• Flood susceptibility is highest in low-gradient arable lowlands with quaternary formations.
• Very high susceptibility zones, covering 15.00-19.50% of the area, exhibited the greatest FR values.

Conclusions:

• PROMETHEE integrated with GIS is the most efficient method for flood susceptibility mapping.
• The generated susceptibility maps are vital tools for flood risk management and impact mitigation.
• Understanding spatial flood patterns aids in developing targeted and effective flood management plans.