{"id":637,"date":"2018-11-26T07:11:48","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T07:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rmsi.com\/blog\/?p=637"},"modified":"2018-11-29T13:10:03","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T13:10:03","slug":"an-innovative-solution-to-forecast-floods-in-real-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rmsi.com\/blog\/2018\/11\/an-innovative-solution-to-forecast-floods-in-real-time\/","title":{"rendered":"An Innovative Solution to Forecast Floods in Real Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why we need real time flood forecasting ?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Flood is considered\u00a0to be\u00a0one of the most recurring and frequent disasters in the world. In India alone, each year, almost 2,000 people\u00a0loose their lives\u00a0and\u00a0substantial economic losses are incurred. Recent floods events such as the Uttarakhand Flood – 2013, Jammu & Kashmir Flood \u2013 2014, and Chennai Flood – 2015 are typical examples where huge losses of property\u00a0and human lives have been recorded.<\/p>\n

Flood forecasts are critical to emergency response programs to limit property damage and avoid loss of lives.<\/p>\n

Existing flood forecasting practices and their short comings<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The current flood forecasting systems in most parts of India are manual and are based on data from CWC\u2019s discharge gauge stations located along the rivers and their tributaries in the country. But these flood forecasting practices have various limitations. The current forecasts are based on gauge-to-gauge relationships and have a short lead-time of only 8 to 12 hours prior to an event. They do not consider embankment breaches or inflows between two stations. Furthermore, they don\u2019t have information about water surface profiles necessary for embankment safety and also do not consider other parameters for flood management such as area of submergence, depth and duration of flooding etc. Finally, they also do not have any mechanism for flood warning dissemination, public alerts, institutions and communities.<\/p>\n

An innovative solution to forecast floods in real time<\/strong><\/h4>\n

RMSI developed a flood forecasting system using open source based HEC family model \u2013 Hydrologic Engineering Center\u2019s Real Time Simulation Model (HECRTS – www.hec.usace.army.mil\/software\/hec-rts\/<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

This flood forecasting system utilizes open-source web GIS libraries to disseminate flood warnings through the web. It is a state-of-the-art system offering real time flood forecasting and is based on the global best practices in flood management. The system offers forecasts as early as 3 days prior to the occurrence on an event, hence,\u00a0enabling substantial increase in the lead time for evacuation planning.<\/em><\/p>\n

How this system works<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The system fetches the forecasted and real-time precipitation data through FTP protocol. This data is converted into HECDSS format, which is the native format for HECRTS Model. The HECRTS system runs through a scheduler at regular intervals. The tasks run through scheduler include:<\/p>\n