Flood Susceptibility Assessment in Bangladesh Using Machine Learning and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis

This work proposes a new approach by integrating statistical, machine learning, and multi-criteria decision analysis, including artificial neural network (ANN), logistic regression (LR), frequency ratio (FR), and analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Dependent (flood inventory) and independent variables (flood causative factors) were prepared using remote sensing data and the Mike-11 hydrological model and secondary data from different sources. The flood inventory map was randomly divided into training and testing datasets, where 334 flood locations (70%) were used for training and the remaining 141 locations (30%) were employed for testing. Using the area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC), predictive power of the model was tested. The results revealed that LR model had the highest success rate (81.60%) and prediction rate (86.80%), among others. Furthermore, different combinations of the models were evaluated for flood susceptibility mapping and the best combination (11C) was used for generating a new flood hazard map for Bangladesh. The performance of the 11C integrated models was also evaluated using the AUROC and found that integrated LR-FR model had the highest predictive power with an AUROC value of 88.10%. This study offers a new opportunity to the relevant authority for planning and designing flood control measures.