Early Warning System for flood prevention and management in the Ebro river basin

The deployment of the Early Warning System (EWS) application, which is part of the Xylem Vue powered by GoAigua platform, provides CHE with early warnings during floods in a variety of scenarios. The tool combines different technologies to compute, analyze and provide warnings and recommendations based on large amounts of data, provided by hydrological and meteorological sensors, rainfall radar, and weather forecasting models.

The application uses cloud computing and big data analytics for real-time, probabilistic hydraulic and hydrological modelling. It also applies geo-statistics and machine-learning techniques to improve data quality and leverages its AI inference engine and heuristics for better management recommendations. It runs every ten minutes for advanced preemption.

The EWS generates flood maps for different return periods, recommends actions for dams to minimize risks and damage, and helps to disseminate warnings and alerts to mobile telephones and websites when necessary, depending on the type of users and their location. The application provides advance information on potentially affected infrastructures and facilities, enabling earlier activation of disaster management protocols.

Thanks to this project, CHE can respond to different types of floods (localized heavy rainfall, river floods, with/without snowmelt) and anticipate events even days or hours before they occur. The EWS also forecasts flows and levels accurately, and evaluates the performance of organizations, protocols, and communications and software systems after every event.

The implementation of the EWS application, referred to as ‘VIGILAEbro’ by CHE, is in line with the European Floods Directive (2007/60/EC), which includes the need to develop Flood Risk Management Plans. The EWS includes a comprehensive, user-friendly interface for enhanced risk warning and awareness in the river basin.