The Impact of Rainfall Movement Direction on Urban Runoff Cannot Be Ignored in Urban Hydrologic Management

Urban floods have been exacerbated globally, associated with increasing spatial-temporal variations in rainfall. However, compared with rainfall variabilities of intensity and duration, the effect of rainfall movement direction is always ignored. Based on 1313 rainfall scenarios with different combinations of rainfall intensity and rainfall movement direction in the typically rainy city of Shenzhen in China, we find that the effect of rainfall movement direction on the peak runoff may reach up to 20%, which will decrease to less than 5% under heavy rainfall intensity conditions. In addition, our results show that the impact of rainfall movement direction is almost symmetrical and is associated with the direction of the river. The closer rainfall movement direction is to the Linear Directional Mean of rivers, the larger is the peak runoff of section. Our results reveal that rainfall movement direction is significant to urban peak runoff in the downstream reaches, which should be considered in urban hydrological analysis.

Automated summary

The study shows that the direction of rainfall movement has a significant impact on peak runoff, up to 20%, but can decrease to less than 5% under heavy rainfall conditions. Additionally, the impact of rainfall movement direction is symmetrical and related to the direction of the river, affecting peak runoff in the downstream urban areas.