River-flood forecasting methods: the context of the Kelantan River in Malaysia
Abstract River-flood forecasting is among the most important feasible non-structural approaches used in reducing economic losses and alleviating human sufferings. In spite of uncertainty in the forecasting of natural disasters, the current prevailing methods developed in many parts of the world in the recent history has made good progress to a great extent. The advancement is attributed mainly due to the availability of high-resolution weather data and the use of sophisticated computer modelling algorithms. However, it is desirable to conduct exploratory review studies to further improving the current state of affairs. The present paper reviews briefly the river-flood forecasting methods currently used worldwide with a specific focus in the context of the Kelantan River in Malaysia. Flooding in Malaysia is recurrent covering a large inhabited area compared with other natural disasters. Some of the popularly used methods in the literature such as statistical methods machine learning and methods based on chaos theory have been reviewed, The paper will also attempt to explore the future direction for research and development that might be useful specifically for dealing with the recurrent rivers flooding in Malaysia. A reasonably acceptable prediction of river streamflow is significantly important in disaster management and water resources management.