Available online at www.pelagiaresearchlibrary.com Pelagia Research Library Advances in Applied Science Research, 2016, 7(4):71-78 ISSN: 0976-8610 CODEN (USA): AASRFC 71 Pelagia Research Library GIS data base design, development and flood analysis: A case study of Olpad Taluka of Surat Praful M. Udani 1 and Dhruvesh K. Mathur 2 1 Director, ISTAR-CVM, Vallabh Vidyanagar 2 Research Scholar 14SC703002, Faculty of Sciences(Physics), CU Shah University, Wadhwan _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Flood is a natural disaster and almost occurs in every part of the world. India has longest rivers passing from high population density area and during monsoon season, river floods are common in India. Most probable conditions causing floods are outdated or clogged drainage systems and rapid accumulation of rainfall. In Gujarat, Tapi river causes flood in Surat and its nearby areas. In this research paper use of remote sensing and GIS in flood analysis is presented. Olpad Taluka of Surat is coastal area and highly vulnerable for flood. Remote sensing and GIS are used for creating required database for Olpad taluka. Parameters like Population density, resources availability and elevation of geographical area are used to categorize villages under high risk zone, moderate risk zone and low risk zone. Key words: Remote Sensing, GIS Analysis, Types of Flood, Olpad, Risk Zone, Vulnerability _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION India is one of the most flood prone countries in the world. The principal reasons for flood are prevailing natural ecological systems in the country and these are heavy rainfall with temporal and spatial variation, highly silted river systems and inadequate capacity to carry the high flood discharge, inadequate drainage to carry away the rainwater quickly to streams / rivers. Many times typhoons and cyclones also cause floods. Flash floods are caused by steep and highly erodible mountains, particularly in Himalayan ranges. The average rainfall in India is 1150 mm with significant variation across the Country. The annual rainfall along the western coast and Western Ghats, Khasi hills and over most of the Brahmaputra valley amounts to more than 2500 mm. Most of the floods occur during the monsoon period and are usually associated with tropical storms, depressions and active monsoon conditions. Due to the mentioned conditions floods occur in almost all river basins in India. [2] Vulnerability to floods and other natural disasters is caused by the high population density, widespread poverty, illiteracy, enormous pressure on rural land, and agriculture dominated economy. Children, women, old age and disabled are particularly more vulnerable. Eighty five percent of the deaths during disasters are of women and children (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, CRED 2000). Presently protection in the country against floods is inadequate. Though non-structural measures improve the preparedness to floods and reduce losses, the necessity of structural measures would always remain for minimizing the extent of physical damage caused by floods. In future programmes and development planning of the country, it is required to integrate flood control and management planning along with climate change.[3]