Brahmaputra floods: Global flood inundation forecasting

Inland flooding is projected to increase in the near future. Coupled

with this, cities are still growing and these trends are showing no signs

of slowing. During the 2017 summer floods in India, 2 million people

were affected as the state of Assam was hit with a third of the overall

flooding1. Rivers in Bangladesh saw record highs with around 1.3 million

people suffering its effects1.

Location:

Brahmaputra

basin, India and

Bangladesh

Event date

2017

A significant problem we were

looking to tackle was to try and

help people understand where

water is during flooding events.

Where it might go, how many

houses might be affected, what

roads might be disrupted?

This isn't only about finding

evidence of flooding after an event

by analysing an image from a

satellite. We use models,

sensors and software systems

to provide forecasts of flood

inundation and the associated

impacts and loss estimates.

Challenge

Our Brahmaputra basin

demonstration project looked to

provide flood inundation forecasts

using data from the 2017 floods.

By harnessing a variety of

environmental datasets and

presenting these as a set of

forecast flood estimate maps, we

could help arm decision makers

with clear, consistent data on which

decisions to reduce flood impact

can be based.

Demonstration

conducted

2018