Assessment of potential flash flood hazards. Concerning land use/land cover in Aqaba Governorate, Jordan, using a multi-criteria technique,

Abstract Aqaba is the principal port and the only maritime outlet in Jordan. It is located in the northeastern tip of the Red Sea and is characterized by hyper arid climatic conditions. As such, Aqaba frequently experiences high intensity rainfall as flash floods. This paper intends to build a flash flood vulnerability map for Aqaba city and assess its impact on land use/land cover (LULC), that could help decision makers to take it into consideration in the planning process Six spatial layers were considered including: rainfall, elevation, slope, stream order (distance to stream), soil, and LULC. These layers were processed using GIS tools, multi-criteria analysis (MCA); in particular, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method was used to identify the optimal weights of each parameter contributing to potential flash floods. The map showed that 1960.5 km2 (24.4 %) 1960.5 km2 (28.4 %) corresponding to high, and very high PFF, respectively. River mouth, canyons, and flat low altitudes areas are vulnerable to high and very high flash floods hazards risk especially in urban and agricultural areas. In addition, they revealed that steep and ridge slopes, upper-stream high altitudes are less susceptible to FF hazards.