Amman
Our urban study area is Amman, the capital of Jordan. The region belongs to the Mediterranean climatic zone. The mean temperature in Amman is 19.3°C. The average annual precipitation is around 328 mm with a rainy season from October to April (based on the time period of 1981 to 2010, ClimateImpactsOnline for Jordan, 2023). The region of Amman is classified as a semi-arid area.
The focus area is the central located catchment ending in "Downtown Amman" (area 150 km²), and is highly urbanized with over 75 % built-up areas. The height varies from 700 m to 1100 m with very steep slopes. There are several major wadis in the city of Amman e.g. Wadi Al-Seer or Wadi Abdoun. They all join before Downtown Amman and jointly become the river Zarqa. The main wadi in the city center is piped in huge underground culverts, to reduce the inundations caused by winter season flash floods in Downtown (Gharaibeh et al., 2019). Amman was hit several times by flash floods in the past (e.g. 2015 and 2019). Within the catchment the Downtown area including the UNESCO world heritage site of the Roman theater is our focus area, since in 2019 this area was heavily flooded (Gharaibeh et al., 2019).
Flash flood events in Amman
| Date | Water depth | Precipitation | Damage | Casualties | Further notes | Source of information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Heavy rainfall | Video shows a flodded mall |
Youtube
Video date 03.11.2014 |
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| 05.11.2015 | More than 1 m in some tunnels | Heavy rainfall with 45 min duration | 5 million JOD | 4 | ||
| 28.02.2019 | 1 | Photos | ||||
| 14./15.11.2022 | 1 |
Wadi Musa/Petra
Our rural study area is Wadi Musa/Petra with the small city of Wadi Musa and the famous UNESCO world heritage site of Petra. The region belongs to the Mediterranean climatic zone. The seasonal mean temperatures in the area of Wadi Musa vary from ~ 6℃ in January to ~ 22℃ in July. The average annual precipitation is around 200 mm. Most of the rain are convective storm events, which occur mostly between October and April.
Flash flood events in Wadi Musa (Petra)
| Date | Water depth | Precipitation | Damage | Casualities | Further notes | Source of information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04.1963 | 10 m | About 20 | Blocked hydraulic structures, Siq was flooded | Al-Weshah, A. and El-Khoury, F. (1999) | ||
| 04.1994 | 4.2 m | Houses, roads, bridges, water and power networks, flora and fauna | None | Siq flooded and tourists rescued | Al-Weshah, A. and El-Khoury, F. (1999) | |
| 11.1996 | 5.4 m | 1 | Siq flooded and tourists rescued | Al-Weshah, A. and El-Khoury, F. (1999) | ||
| 04.2001 | 7.6 m | Heavy rainfall in the Eastern part of the catchment, no rainfall in Wadi Musa | Bridges, roads, private company machinery | 3 | ||
| 15.01.2004 | 3.4 m | None | Treasury flooded | |||
| 18.01.2010 | 2.2 m | Raining on and off for the whole day | Retaining walls, roads, some houses flooded | None | ||
| 26.12.2010 | 0.5 m | Retaining walls, roads, some houses flooded | None | |||
| 04.04.2011 | 1.95 m | 30 mins of heavy rainfall | Some damages in infrastructure | None | Evacuation of Petra | |
| 31.01.2013 - 03.02.2013 | 2.15 m | Rain for about four days with high intensities | Retaining walls, roads and private properties damages (estimated 5-7 million $) | None | Wadi Musa was flooded from the main valleys | PDTRA |
| 08.02.2013 | 30 cm in Petra and 1 - 1.5 m in Wadi Musa | Some damages in infrastructure and water channels, damages in retaining walls, soil erosion | None | Petra Treasury was flooded and tourists were evacuated |
PDTRA |
|
| 20.11.2013 | 1.5 - 2.5 m | Rainfall 5 km away from the archaeological site | Many retaining walls damages, flooded houses | None |
PDTRA |
|
| 05.2018 | 2 m | Many damages in infrastructure especially at archaeological site | None | 3469 tourists evacuated | PDTRA | |
| 09.11.2018 | 10 m or higher | Many damages in infrastructure (culverts, sewage system), many trees, three restaurants | None | Around 3700 tourists evacuated | PDTRA | |
| 26.12.2022 | Flooding of the Siq | None | Around 1700 people evacuated |
PDTRA |
References
- ClimateImpactsOnline for Jordan (2023), https://kfo.pik-potsdam.de//jor/index_en.html?language_id=en (accessed June 20, 2024).
- Gharaibeh, A. A.; Al.Zu’bi, E. M.; Abuhassan, L. B. (2019): Amman (City of Waters); Policy, land use, and character changes. Land, 8, DOI:10.3390/land8120195.
- Al-Weshah, R.A. and El-Khoury, F. (1999): Flood Analysis and Mitigation for Petra Area in Jordan. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, May/June 1999, pp 170-177.