AN INVESTIGATION IN VEGETATION CHANGES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON URBAN FLOODING BY RS, CASE OF BEHSHAHR FLOOD EVENT

Occurrence of urban flooding has considerable consequences for human societies. According to evidence both urbanization and intensity of rainfall due to climate change is rapidly increasing. This may lead to a rise in probability of urban flooding. The purpose of the study is to explore vegetation changes in Behshahr Watershed by processing Remote Sensing data to understand whether the vegetation changes could be effective in intensification of the catastrophic flood event of October, 2012, in Behshahr City. Landsat data in 1987, 2001, and 2006 have been processed to give NDVI maps. The NDVI maps were subtracted from each other to detect changes. The results indicated that a decrease in vegetation density from 1987 to 2006 has exacerbated the effects of intense rainfall and lead to the hazardous event in Behshahr City.