Improving Flood Simulation by Integrating Divergent Streams in Upper Kuttanad, Kerala, India

Floods are becoming a frequent phenomenon even in regions where floods are rare; floods in Kerala, India, are one example. The study investigates floods in the Upper Kuttanad region of Kerala, where three rivers – Pamba, Manimala, and Achenkovil – converge while some streams diverge. To tackle this challenge, two distinct scenarios, without considering diverging rivers and considering diverging rivers, are employed in a one-dimensional flood simulation of the August 2018 flood in MIKE Hydro River. The results indicate that accounting for river divergence leads to a more accurate alignment between the simulated and observed discharge with an R2 value of nearly 0.90, aiding in the comprehension of the flood characteristics.