Flash floods have devastating power due to their high rainfall intensities and short durations, causing serious damage to infrastructure and human life. Recent observations in the desert environment of Kuwait witnessed an increase in rainfall extremes, and the currently adopted intensity–duration–frequency (IDF) curves constructed three decades ago did not produce reliable design frequencies for existing stormwater drainage systems in residential areas. In this study, the IDF curves for the urban zone of the State of Kuwait were updated with recent records of annual maximum rainfall intensity from January 2006 to December 2017, and the Extreme Value type-I probability distribution was implemented to perform frequency analysis and estimate the design storm. The study concluded that frequent updating of IDF curves is necessary for the examined rainfall data to account for harmonic climatic variations in compliance with sunspot cycles. The updated IDF curves confirmed the pronounced increase in rainfall intensities within short durations of 5–15 min, thereby affecting water-related infrastructure in small urban catchments. Here we call for urgent action to be taken to adopt flood mitigation plans in residential areas to avoid the catastrophic impacts of extreme flash floods.

中文翻译：

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极端山洪导致的科威特强度-持续时间-频率曲线的更新

暴雨由于降雨强度高和持续时间短而具有毁灭性，对基础设施和人类生命造成严重破坏。最近在科威特沙漠环境中观察到的极端降雨增加了，并且三十年前建立的当前采用的强度－持续时间－频率（IDF）曲线没有为居住区现有的雨水排放系统提供可靠的设计频率。在这项研究中，使用2006年1月至2017年12月的年度最大降雨强度的最新记录更新了科威特州市区的IDF曲线，并实施了极值I型概率分布以进行频率分析和估算设计风暴。该研究得出结论，对于被检查的降雨数据，需要频繁更新IDF曲线，以说明符合太阳黑子周期的谐波气候变化。更新的IDF曲线证实了在5-15分钟的短时间内降雨强度明显增加，从而影响了小城市集水区与水有关的基础设施。在这里，我们呼吁采取紧急行动，在居民区采取防洪计划，以避免极端暴洪的灾难性影响。