Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geohazards and Georisks
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2024.1438421
This article is part of the Research Topic Monitoring, Early Warning and Mitigation of Natural and Engineered Slopes – Volume IV View all 9 articles

The Disaster-causing Factors of the flash floods for the July 20th Extreme Rainstorm in Henan, China

Provisionally accepted
Bingshun He Bingshun He 1*Changzhi Li Changzhi Li 1*Qiuling Yao Qiuling Yao 1*Han Wang Han Wang 1*Lanyang Luo Lanyang Luo 2*Ma Meihong Ma Meihong 2*
  • 1 China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 2 School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Global warming has accelerated the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events in mountainous areas. Coupled with their vulnerable environment and the impact of intensive human activities, along with the complex and variable causes of flash floods, this exacerbates casualties and property losses.Therefore, this article investigates the triggering mechanisms and potential disaster-causing factors of the extreme "720" flood in the WZD-HGZ basin of Henan. The research results indicate that the flash floods in the WZD-HGZ basin were primarily caused by prolonged heavy rainfall, combined with the complex terrain, obstructive backwater, and human activities. The amplification of the flood mainly occurred in three stages: concentrated runoff from multiple channels, water obstruction caused by the successive collapse of roadbeds and bridges, and the generation of backwater. Besides, due to the lack of basic flood prevention awareness, unclear warnings, and inadequate guidance, the transition chain from issuing warnings to taking action was disrupted. The aforementioned research findings provide references for current flash flood disaster prevention efforts.

    Keywords: flash flood, Disaster-causing factors, Mechanism, Henan, Extreme rainstormFlash flood

    Received: 26 May 2024; Accepted: 20 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 He, Li, Yao, Wang, Luo and Meihong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Bingshun He, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, Beijing Municipality, China
    Changzhi Li, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, Beijing Municipality, China
    Qiuling Yao, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, Beijing Municipality, China
    Han Wang, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, Beijing Municipality, China
    Lanyang Luo, School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
    Ma Meihong, School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.