Regional flood frequency analysis in the kwazulu-natal province, South Africa, using the index-flood method

T. R. Kjeldsen, J. C. Smithers, R. E. Schulze

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89 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

A regional frequency analysis of annual maximum series (AMS) of flood flows from relatively unregulated rivers in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa has been conducted, including identification of homogeneous regions and suitable regional frequency distributions for the regions. The study area was divided into two homogeneous regions based on an index of monthly rainfall concentration. Region 1 covers the coastal and midlands area and Region 2 the west north-western parts of the study area. The General Normal, Pearson Type 3 and General Pareto distributions were found to be suitable for AMS of flood flows in Region 2. The occurrence of a few flood events of extreme magnitude in Region 1 resulted in no suitable regional frequency distribution for this region.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)194-211
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Hydrology
Volume255
Issue number1-4
Early online date28 Nov 2001
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan 2002

Funding

The funding provided by the Water Research Commission for this project and the assistance and computing facilities provided by the Computing Centre for Water Research are acknowledged gratefully. Mr D. van Bladeren is thanked for providing the flood AMS data and Mr M. Horan for assistance with the GIS work. The reviewers, Professor G. Pegram and Dr C. Pearson, are thanked for their pertinent comments, which significantly improved the quality of this paper.

Keywords

  • Index-flood
  • L-moments
  • Regional flood frequency analysis
  • South Africa

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Water Science and Technology

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