Flood Observation and Impact Assessment on Agriculture and Built-Up Area in Selected Districts of Haryana by Adopting Random Forest LULC Classifier

Haryana is a state situated in an alluvial plain area in the direction towards the downslope of the Siwalik Himalayas, making this region vulnerable to hydro-meteorological changes (i.e. floods and droughts) in the area. The present chapter has focused on a recent flood event (i.e. Haryana Flood 2023) in the Haryana state, which primarily affected the districts of Kurukshetra, Ambala, Kaithal, Sirsa and Fatehabad in July 2023. The flood extent was derived from the Bhuvan Geo Portal (i.e. flood disaster monitoring), then integrated into the GEE platform for impact assessment on agricultural land using the RF LULC classifier. The findings suggest the presence of rainfall anomaly and a large excess in the rainfall (59%) in the region during July. The total areas that were inundated in July in each district were calculated as Sirsa 15.81 km2), Fatehabad (196.20 km2), Ambala (680.32 km2), Kaithal (213.76 km2), and Kurukshetra (786.95 km2) making a composite inundated area of 1893.04 km2 in the state. The flood mostly affected agricultural land (60–78%), as the state is dominated by agricultural activities. The chapter offers a holistic view of the Haryana Flood 2023 and the effects it has had on the area as a result of extreme weather occurrences linked to climate change (such as flooding and heavy rainfall).