International Science Community Association International Research Journal of Environmental Sciences 2319-1414 9 3 2020 07 22 Analysis of rainfall and return periods to assess flood risks in hilly areas of Nepal 7 14 EN Katkar Amar A. 1 Department of Environmental Engineering, K.I.T's College of Engineering (An Autonomous Institute) Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Rananavare Pruthviraj P. Rananavare 2 Department of Environmental Engineering, K.I.T's College of Engineering (An Autonomous Institute) Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Rai Chandra Man 1 Forest Research Institute Deemed to be University, Dehradun, India Chhetri Ramesh 2 Kali Gandaki Polytechnic Institute, CTEVT, Ghiring 1, Tanahun, Gandaki Pradesh, Nepal Dahal Benu Prasad 3 Department of Occupational Standard, Ministry of Labour and Human Resources, Thimphu, Bhutan Adhikari Saroj 4 Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal > Research Paper 2019 8 25 2020 07 22 The study analyzed rainfall data for 30 years from 17 meteorological stations to determine flood risk in the hilly areas of Nepal. The probability of occurrence and return period were used as the methods to calculate the flood event. Probability of occurrence was calculated from seven different methods: Chegodayev, Blom, California, Weibull, Gringorten, Hazen and Sevruk and Geiger method and mean probability was taken from these methods. The mean probability was then used to calculate the return period. The common application of these methods involves the ranking of the rainfall data and calculated as a ratio of the ranked values to the length of the samples i.e. number of years. There turn period is an estimation of the expected return of the annual observation i.e. extreme rainfall associated events and the probability determines the chances of occurrence of these events in terms of percentage. The Pansayakhola station and year 1999 has a higher return period of 24 years and 42 years, but the least probability of occurrence (4.13%) and (2.36%) respectively. While, the station Nepalthok and year 1992 has a return period of one year time interval corresponding to the lowest average rainfall, but have more than 95% of probability of occurrence. The study also reported that the highest return period (42 years) was observed in the month of July and least in November. Return periods with higher probability need robust mitigation measures for the occurrence of frequent flood events. Hilly regions of Nepal is highly vulnerable to flood pertaining to a higher share of land coverage and concentration of dense population which demands a pragmatic approach to reduce the risk of floods or hydrological events. Copyright@ International Science Community Association