Research on Flood Storage and Disaster Mitigation Countermeasures for Floods in China’s Dongting Lake Area Based on Hydrological Model of Jingjiang–Dongting Lake

Abstract

China’s Dongting Lake area is intertwined with rivers and lakes and possesses many water systems. As such, it is one of the most complicated areas in the Yangtze River Basin, in terms of the complexity of its flood control. Over time, siltation and reclamation in the lake area have greatly weakened the river discharge capacity of the lake area, and whether it can endure extreme floods remains an open question. As there is no effective scenario simulation model for the lake area, this study constructs a hydrological model for the Jingjiang–Dongting Lake system and verifies the model using data from 11 typical floods occurring from 1954 to 2020. The parameters derived from 2020 data reflect the latest hydrological relationship between the lake and the river, while meteorological data from 1954 and 1998 are used as inputs for various scenarios with the aim of evaluating the flood pressure of the lake area, using the water levels at the Chengglingji and Luoshan stations as indicators. The preliminary results demonstrate that the operation of the upstream Three Gorges Dam and flood storage areas cannot completely offset the flood pressure faced by the lake area. Therefore, the reinforcement and raising of embankments should be carried out, in order to cope with potential extreme flood events. The methodology and results of this study have reference value for policy formation, flood control, and assessment and dispatching in similar areas.