iFLOWS- Mumbai, a state-of the-art Integrated Flood Warning System for Mumbai has been launched through video conference jointly by Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Uddhav Thackeray and Union Earth Sciences Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on June 12, 2020.
The system will help make the city become more resilient, by providing early warning for flooding especially during high rainfall events and cyclones. Using this, it will be possible to have an estimate of the flood inundation 3 days in advance, along with 3 hours – 6 hours Nowcast (immediate weather updates).
The sophisticated system has been developed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences using its in-house expertise, in close collaboration with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC).
The system uses rain gauge data and local data such as data on land use, land topography, drainage systems, water bodies in the city, tide levels, infrastructure and population, which has been provided by BM.
Using these as inputs, the prediction system models weather, rainfall, runoff and water movement, tide and storm surge impacts based on which early Flood Warnings for the city will be provided. It will address the flood inundation due to rainfall, river bank breach, storm surge, obstruction of flow due to roads, buildings, rail lines, high tides and sea level rise.
I-FLOWS is built on a modular structure and comprises seven modules. The Data Assimilation Module gathers a variety of dynamic data including IMD weather forecasts and under-water depth of rivers and lakes across Mumbai city. The Inundation Module will use the data to forecast flood inundation 3 days in advance, while the Flood Module will predict how the water will move across areas expected to be flooded.
The Vulnerability and Risk Modules, which together comprise the Decision Support System, enables the administration to take smart decisions to manage the situation based on a scientific and holistic assessment of flooding risks.
