Inundation hazard analysis using open data from the web: application to the Rio Muaguide in Mozambique

We present the results of a flood hazard assessment for a study area in the province of Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique. As for many developing countries, data are extremely scarce in this region and, therefore, quantitative analyses unfortunately lack an appropriate ground. However, web databases offer nowadays a variety of open data that, though possibly less reliable than those one would use after specific monitoring on site, enable models to be set up to obtain key pieces of information. The latter are crucial for result-based establishment of mitigation measures and/or managing policies. The manuscript presents the web data used to characterize the terrain elevation, soil cover and intense rainfall in the catchments of the Rio Muaguide, as well as the results of numerical models of rainfall-runoff transformation and two-dimensional flood propagation for a design event. Advantages and limitation of the approach are briefly discussed considering the usefulness of the results and validation issues.