The American town of “Carrie” in North Carolina was created, an innovative solution that allows them to predict floods, Through the use of sensors that determine the water level in real time. This innovation allowed the town’s stakeholders to predict storms that lead to flooding, The data collected by the sensors triggers alerts to notify the authorities concerned with the management of natural disasters, It enables them to respond quickly and take timely preventive measures in areas that are usually flooded.
Floods are one of the most common natural disasters. It affects the lives of tens of millions of people around the world, It causes more than $200 billion in material damage each year. In the American town of “Carey”, which is exposed to heavy rainfall due to the annual hurricane season coming from the Atlantic Ocean, The municipality incurs significant losses when floods occur, In addition to disrupting the progress of work in the days following the floods until life returns to normal after the municipality drains water, cleans streets and restores public utilities.
The main challenge facing the competent authorities to confront the floods in the town of “Kari” lies in the lack of appropriate means to monitor the level of water level of the river in which it flows or how quickly the water rises in it. Rivers usually indicate the possibility of flooding when their level rises significantly and in a short period of time. The municipality of Kari has previously relied on citizens to notify it of any changes indicating flooding by phone, text message or other traditional means. Municipal employees responded to these messages personally, They send workers to erect barricades and block roads, They also send emergency help when necessary. However, the municipality of Kari felt that this procedure should be updated and innovative solutions based on smart technologies should be used. For this reason, The municipality has moved towards a new system to proactively respond to floods, Rather than the delayed response, which is often centered around addressing the effects of flooding. In this sense, The possibility of implementing an innovative system that helps the municipality predict the occurrence of floods in a cost-effective and feasible manner has been studied.
Accordingly, The municipality has formulated the objectives of a new project to develop a forecasting system that notifies teams of natural disasters when floods occur to enable them to act early. Among these objectives are: Raising the awareness of municipal employees about the factors that lead to flooding; automating alert messages targeting employees responsible for rainwater drainage; alerting citizens of the occurrence of floods; providing data to the competent regional and government authorities; and analyzing the data collected to help predict future floods.
Since the municipality of Kari already has smart systems to manage the town, One of the most important conditions was that the new flood forecasting project should integrate with its existing work systems. This includes the use of a digital dashboard integrated with the town’s real-time map and geographic information visualization system. Automated alerts and notifications are organized in line with the programs used by the municipality.
The implementation of the project began with the installation of sensors that measure the water level at different points along the river, Rain level measuring devices were installed in many of the municipality’s facilities; a secure and reliable wireless network was then built; and the municipality used IoT technology to facilitate data transmission to and from sensors and data dashboard. The project also included the creation of an interactive dashboard that allows the issuance of real-time reports and provides visual depiction of data.
The initial phase of the project took several months, It yielded positive results. Municipal employees are now able to track flooding in real time; alerts can be sent and tasks distributed to drainage staff automatically; and a data-sharing mechanism with regional partners has been established.
The project is currently under completion, But those in charge of it have benefited from automating processes that were previously managed manually. Instead of relying on citizens to report floods, public works teams or emergency services are sent to deal with them, The data collected by the new system is responsible for launching alerts, and send them to the concerned authorities, This makes the new system more efficient in protecting economic interests at risk, to address the emergency situation, And even saving lives. When storms occur, Administrators can follow the course of the storm in real time through the interactive dashboard. Inspect the amount of rain falling and the speed of its flow, Share this data with regional partners.
Because many areas of North Carolina are subject to annual flooding, Experts point out that the innovative solution adopted by the town of “Kari”, capable of predicting floods, It can be replicated in other cities and towns therein, Especially those with good digital infrastructure.
References:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/town-of-cary-innovates-flood-prediction-with-iot/
