Managing Flood Risks and Disaster Planning with New Tools

Since the year 2000, over 5,300 water-related natural disasters have occurred across the globe, causing 325,000 plus deaths and economic damage in the realm of upwards of $17 trillion US dollars. It’s assumed that roughly 90% of all-natural disasters are water-related, with 54% of these disasters being flooding. One of the more recent of these incidents, a 2020 flooding in South Asia, affected 17.5 million civilians, caused 1,000 or more deaths, and economic and structural damage somewhere in the billions. While forecasting and early warning systems are useful for preventing the worst damage most floods can cause, it simply isn’t reliable enough to keep most residents safe; and many flood-prone countries often lack the resources needed to combat flooding or keep civilians safe when it occurs. Additionally, without funding, many of these centers are unable to create basic flood defenses such as early warning systems, flood risk maps, and historical documentation of structural and geographical weak areas which can worsen flooding.

One of the more common methods for combating flooding is the use of flood risk mapping, often referred to as an Inundation map. They typically come in two forms, empirical model maps, and hydrodynamic maps. Hydrodynamic maps are data-driven and require a fair bit of leg work from workers such as getting information on sea levels, river depths, stream gauges, and more. Empirical models are somewhat easier, using remotely sourced data to build models for the severity of potential area flooding. However, many developing nations and particularly the Global South lacks proper data, infrastructure, and resources to create hydrodynamic models and are thus left with empirical models, which are simpler to create but may not be as wholly accurate. Inundation maps are often a highly costly endeavor, with Canada spending $350 million US dollars over the next decade to update their pre-existing inundation maps. Many flood risk maps in both developing and developed countries are out of date, and may not factor in important modern elements of flood risks like urban development or the potential impact climate change could have on flood levels.

Utilizing New tools for Flood Risk Mapping

One of the latest groups to approach this issue is the UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water Environment Health. They’ve helped to develop a new flood mapping tool and flood risk prediction tool which they plan to launch within the next year. The tools assist by utilizing artificial intelligence models, public data, and cloud computing in order to bypass the high-cost issues of risk maps and create inundation and flood risk maps in an efficient manner. Moreover, the maps will offer critical information for flood mitigation, recommended emergency response protocols, the best land use planning, and recommendations for resilient infrastructure, insurance, and ways to increase public awareness. With these tools, governments are able to lessen the damage and risks posed by future floods by:

• Improving the accuracy of flood maps, their historical floods, as well as depths for rivers, lakes, streams, and other bodies of water.
• Improve the overall risk mapping ability of flood monitoring programs and introduce policies that help reduce the overall damage caused by floods.
• Investing in infrastructure and policies which help reduce the risk caused by floods on a civilian and societal level. 

The flood mapping tool created by the Institute for Water Environment Health aims to address information gaps in early warning and risk management systems. It utilizes satellite imagery captured over periods of time to provide more accurate data related to floods and water levels, as well as utilizing Google and MapBox features to ensure the geographical accuracy of the data used. The flood prediction tool itself utilizes AI models to generate floss risk maps for both current and future risks to city, district, and river levels. Through the co-usage of these tools, regional and national flooding can be more easily handled and the risks mitigated through proper management systems. 

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