Flood Forecasting and Warning System: A Survey of Models and Their Applications in West Africa

Flood events occurrences and frequencies in the world are of immense worry for the stability of the economy and life safety. Africa continent is the third continent the most negatively affected by the flood events after Asia and Europe. Eastern Africa is the most hit in Africa. However, Africa continent is at the early stage in term of flood forecasting models development and implementation. Very few hydrological models for flood forecasting are available and implemented in Africa for the flood mitigation. And for the majority of the cases, they need to be improved because of the time evolution. Flash flood in Bamako (Mali) has been putting both human life and the economy in jeopardy. Studying this phenomenon, as to propose applicable solutions for its alleviation in Bamako is a great concern. Therefore, it is of upmost importance to know the existing scientific works related to this situation in Mali and elsewhere. The main aim was to point out the various solutions implemented by various local and international institutions, in order to fight against the flood events. Two types of methods are used for the flood events adaptation: the structural and non-structural methods. The structural methods are essentially based on the implementation of the structures like the dams, dykes, levees, etc. The problem of these methods is that they may reduce the volume of water that will inundate the area but are not efficient for the prediction of the coming floods and cannot alert the population with any lead time in advance. The non-structural methods are the one allowing to perform the prediction with acceptable lead time. They used the hydrological rainfall-runoff models and are the widely methods used for the flood adaptation. This review is more accentuated on the various types non-structural methods and their application in African countries in general and West African countries in particular with their strengths and weaknesses. Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV), Hydrologic Engineer Center Hydrologic Model System (HEC-HMS) and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) are the hydrological models that are the most widely used in West Africa for the purpose of flood forecasting. The easily way of calibration and the weak number of input data make these models appropriate for the West Africa region where the data are scarce and often with bad quality. These models when implemented and applied, can predict the coming floods, allow the population to adapt and mitigate the flood events and reduce considerably the impacts of floods especially in terms of loss of life.

River channel flood forecasting method of coupling wavelet neural network with autoregressive model

Based on analyzing the limitations of the commonly used back-propagation neural network （BPNN）, a wavelet neural network （WNN） is adopted as the nonlinear river channel flood forecasting method replacing the BPNN. The WNN has the characteristics of fast convergence and improved capability of nonlinear approximation. For the purpose of adapting the timevarying characteristics of flood routing, the WNN is coupled with an AR real-time correction model. The AR model is utilized to calculate the forecast error. The coefficients of the AR real-time correction model are dynamically updated by an adaptive fading factor recursive least square（RLS） method. The application of the flood forecasting method in the cross section of Xijiang River at Gaoyao shows its effectiveness.

Real-time flood forecasting of Huai River with flood diversion and retarding areas

A combination of the rainfall-runoff module of the Xin’anjiang model, the Muskingum routing method, the water stage simulating hydrologic method, the diffusion wave nonlinear water stage method, and the real-time error correction method is applied to the real-time flood forecasting and regulation of the Huai River with flood diversion and retarding areas. The Xin’anjiang model is used to forecast the flood discharge hydrograph of the upstream and tributary. The flood routing of the main channel and flood diversion areas is based on the Muskingum method. The water stage of the downstream boundary condition is calculated with the water stage simulating hydrologic method and the water stages of each cross section are calculated from downstream to upstream with the diffusion wave nonlinear water stage method. The input flood discharge hydrograph from the main channel to the flood diversion area is estimated with the fixed split ratio of the main channel discharge. The flood flow inside the flood retarding area is calculated as a reservoir with the water balance method. The faded-memory forgetting factor least square of error series is used as the real-time error correction method for forecasting discharge and water stage. As an example, the combined models were applied to flood forecasting and regulation of the upper reaches of the Huai River above Lutaizi during the 2007 flood season. The forecast achieves a high accuracy and the results show that the combined models provide a scientific way of flood forecasting and regulation for a complex watershed with flood diversion and retarding areas.

Nash Model Parameter Uncertainty Analysis by AM-MCMC Based on BFS and Probabilistic Flood Forecasting

A hydrologic model consists of several parameters which are usually calibrated based on observed hy-drologic processes. Due to the uncertainty of the hydrologic processes, model parameters are also uncertain, which further leads to the uncertainty of forecast results of a hydrologic model. Working with the Bayesian Forecasting System (BFS), Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation based Adaptive Metropolis method (AM-MCMC) was used to study parameter uncertainty of Nash model, while the probabilistic flood forecasting was made with the simu-lated samples of parameters of Nash model. The results of a case study shows that the AM-MCMC based on BFS proposed in this paper is suitable to obtain the posterior distribution of the parameters of Nash model according to the known information of the parameters. The use of Nash model and AM-MCMC based on BFS was able to make the probabilistic flood forecast as well as to find the mean and variance of flood discharge, which may be useful to estimate the risk of flood control decision.

Flood Forecasting of Malaysia Kelantan River using Support Vector Regression Technique

The rainstorm is believed to contribute flood disasters in upstream catchments,resulting in further consequences in downstream area due to rise of river water levels.Forecasting for flood water level has been challenging,present-ing complex task due to its nonlinearities and dependencies.This study proposes a support vector machine regression model,regarded as a powerful machine learning-based technique to forecast flood water levels in downstream area for different lead times.As a case study,Kelantan River in Malaysia has been selected to validate the proposed model.Four water level stations in river basin upstream were identified as input variables.A river water level in downstream area was selected as output of flood forecasting model.A comparison with several bench-marking models,including radial basis function(RBF)and nonlinear autoregres-sive with exogenous input(NARX)neural network was performed.The results demonstrated that in terms of RMSE error,NARX model was better for the proposed models.However,support vector regression(SVR)demonstrated a more consistent performance,indicated by the highest coefficient of determination value in twelve-hour period ahead of forecasting time.The findings of this study signified that SVR was more capable of addressing the long-term flood forecasting problems.

Integrating VGI and 2D hydraulic models into a data assimilation framework for real time flood forecasting and mapping

Crowdsourced data can effectively observe environmental and urban ecosystem processes.The use of data produced by untrained people into flood forecasting models may effectively allow Early Warning Systems(EWS)to better perform while support decision-making to reduce the fatalities and economic losses due to inundation hazard.In this work,we develop a Data Assimilation(DA)method integrating Volunteered Geographic Information(VGI)and a 2D hydraulic model and we test its performances.The proposed framework seeks to extend the capabilities and performances of standard DA works,based on the use of traditional in situ sensors,by assimilating VGI while managing and taking into account the uncertainties related to the quality,and the location and timing of the entire set of observational data.The November 2012 flood in the Italian Tiber River basin was selected as the case study.Results show improvements of the model in terms of uncertainty with a significant persistence of the model updating after the integration of the VGI,even in the case of use of few-selected observations gathered from social media.This will encourage further research in the use of VGI for EWS considering the exponential increase of quality and quantity of smartphone and social media user worldwide.

Coupling the Xinanjiang model with geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph for flood forecasting in northeast China

The Xinanjiang(XAJ)model has been successfully applied in humid and semi-humid regions.Considering the geomorphologic factors to accurately estimate floods,this study adopted the geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph(GIUH)method to calculate the surface runoff instead of the experience unit hydrograph(EUH)in the original model.The geomorphologic factors of the case study basin were obtained by using a digital elevation model(DEM)and the Terrain analysis using Digital Elevation Models(TauDEM).Furthermore,the dynamic Muskingum model was used for the channel flood routing.This study focused on the simulation of heavy precipitation and floods over the Chong River,which is a tributary river to the Songhua River on the right bank in northeast China.The detailed steps of the method were shown,up to the estimated value of flood runoff discharges and flood peaks and their comparison with observed values.The average deterministic coefficients(DCs)of model calibration and validation were 0.89 and 0.83,respectively.The results show that the model precision is high and the model is feasible for flood forecasting.Lastly,some methodological perspectives to enhance the method are presented.

Improving the real-time probabilistic channel flood forecasting by incorporating the uncertainty of inflow using the particle filter

An accurate and reliable real-time flood forecast is crucial for mitigating flood disasters. The errors associated with the inflow boundary forcing data are considered as an important source of uncertainties in hydraulic model. In this paper, a real-time probabilistic channel flood forecasting model is developed with a novel function to incorporate the uncertainty of the forcing inflow. This new approach couples a hydraulic model with the particle filter（PF） data assimilation algorithm, a sequential Bayesian Monte Carlo method. The stage observations at hydrological stations are assimilated at each time step to update the model states in order to improve the next time step＇s forecasting. This new approach is tested against a real flood event occurred in the upper Yangtze River. As compared with the open loop simulations, the evaluations of model performance with several deterministic and probabilistic metrics indicate that the accuracy of the ensemble mean prediction and the reliability of the uncertainty quantification are improved pronouncedly as a result of the PF assimilation. Further assessment of the prediction results at different lead times shows that the improvement of model performance deteriorates with the increase of the lead time due to the gradual diminishing of the updating effect for the initial conditions. Based on the analyses of the number of particles and the assimilation frequency, we find that the optimal number of particles can be determined by balancing the model performance and the computation cost, while a high assimilation frequency is preferred to incorporate the emerging observations to update the model states to match the real conditions.

The Flood Forecasting ES Based on Fuzzy Set Theory

This article introduces briefly the development, the struCture and the running situation of a Jinlin flood disaster forecasting ES.In the field of meteorological phenomena,there is a lot of fuzzy phenomena,and concept posseSSing fuzziness. For this reason,we developed FBEST by fuzzy method.The application of FBEST will have great significance in preventing and decreasing disaster,protecting peoples lives and property.

Development and Application of an Atmospheric-HydrologicHydraulic Flood Forecasting Model Driven by TIGGE Ensemble Forecasts

A coupled atmospheric-hydrologic-hydraulic ensemble flood forecasting model, driven by The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment （THORPEX） Interactive Grand Global Ensemble （TIGGE） data, has been developed for flood forecasting over the Huaihe River. The incorporation of numerical weather prediction （NWP） information into flood forecasting systems may increase forecast lead time from a few hours to a few days. A single NWP model forecast from a single forecast center, however, is insufficient as it involves considerable non-predictable uncertainties and leads to a high number of false alarms. The availability of global ensemble NWP systems through TIGGE offers a new opportunity for flood forecast. The Xinanjiang model used for hydrological rainfall-runoff modeling and the one-dimensional unsteady flow model applied to channel flood routing are coupled with ensemble weather predictions based on the TIGGE data from the Canadian Meteorological Centre （CMC）, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts （ECMWF）, the UK Met Office （UKMO）, and the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction （NCEP）. The developed ensemble flood forecasting model is applied to flood forecasting of the 2007 flood season as a test case. The test case is chosen over the upper reaches of the Huaihe River above Lutaizi station with flood diversion and retarding areas. The input flood discharge hydrograph from the main channel to the flood diversion area is estimated with the fixed split ratio of the main channel discharge. The flood flow inside the flood retarding area is calculated as a reservoir with the water balance method. The Muskingum method is used for flood routing in the flood diversion area. A probabilistic discharge and flood inundation forecast is provided as the end product to study the potential benefits of using the TIGGE ensemble forecasts. The results demonstrate satisfactory flood forecasting with clear signals of probability of floods up to a few days in advance, and show that TIGGE ensemble forecast data are a promising tool for forecasting of flood inundation, comparable with that driven by raingauge observations.

The Operational Forecasting of Total Precipitation in Flood Seasons (April to September) of 5 Years (1983-1987)

Ⅰ.INTRODUCTION We have discovered that there exists a good corresponding relationship between theanomalous axes of soil temperature at a depth of 1.6m in winter (December to February) andprecipitations in following flood season (Tang et al., 1982a). We have also designed a simplethermodynamical model and applied it to the forecasting of precipitations in the flood season(Tang et al., 1982 b,c). The practical forecast started from 1975. Before 1980, however, therewere only 40-50 stations in China for measuring the soil temperature at a 1.6m depth. Since1980, the stations have been increased to a total of about 180, but no available mean valueshad been obtained from newly added stations before 1982. Therefore the analysis and map-ping of anomalies of soil temperature was not performed until 1983, and from then on theprecision of analysis has been greatly improved. The following is the actual situation of forecast in five years from 1983 to 1987.

Analysis of Forecast and Early Warning of Flood in Medium and Small Rivers

Flooding of small and medium rivers is caused by environmental factors like rainfall and soil loosening.With the development and application of technologies such as the Internet of Things and big data,the disaster supervision and management of large river basins in China has improved over the years.However,due to the frequent floods in small and medium-sized rivers in our country,the current prediction and early warning of small and medium-sized rivers is not accurate enough;it is difficult to realize real-time monitoring of small and medium-sized rivers,and it is also impossible to obtain corresponding data and information in time.Therefore,the construction and application of small and medium-sized river prediction and early warning systems should be further improved.This paper presents an analysis and discussion on flood forecasting and early warning systems for small and medium-sized rivers in detail,and corresponding strategies to improve the effect of forecasting and early warning systems are proposed.

Forecast of Flood in Chaohu Lake Basin of China Based on Grey-Markov Theory

Flood is one kind of unexpected and the most common natural disasters, which is affected by many factors and has complex mechanism. At home and abroad, there is still no mature theory and method used for the long-term forecast of natural precipitation at present. In the present paper the disadvantages of grey GM (1, 1) and Markov chain are ana- lyzed, and Grey-Markov forecast theory about flood is put forward and then the modifying model is developed by making prediction of Chaohu Lake basin. Hydrological law was conducted based on the theoretical forecasts by grey system GM (1, 1) forecast model with improved Markov chain. The above method contained Stat-analysis, embodying scientific approach, precise forecast and its reliable results.

Test Study on Flood Forecast by Merging Multi Precipitation Data

Shuibuya control basin in upper reaches of Qingjiang River,Hubei Province was taken as the case. By combining grouping Z-I relation with ground meteorological rainfall station,rainfall estimation by radar was calibrated,and actual average surface rainfall in the basin was calculated.By combining genetic algorithm with neural network,the corrected AREM rainfall forecast model was established,to improve rainfall forecast accuracy by AREM. Finally,AREM rainfall forecast models before and after correction were input in Xin＇an River hydrologic model for flood forecast test. The results showed that the corrected AREM rainfall forecast model could significantly improve forecast accuracy of accumulative rainfall,and decrease range of average relative error was more than 60%. Hourly rainfall forecast accuracy was improved somewhat,but there was certain difference from actual situation. Average deterministic coefficient of AREM flood forest test before and after correction was improved from -32. 60% to 64. 38%,and relative error of flood peak decreased from 39. 00% to 25. 04%. The improved effect of deterministic coefficient was better than relative error of flood peak,and whole flood forecast accuracy was improved somewhat.

Evaluation of Tianji and ECMWF high-resolution precipitation forecasts for extreme rainfall event in Henan in July 2021

The extreme rainfall event of July 17 to 22, 2021 in Henan Province, China, led to severe urban waterlogging and flood disasters. This study investigated the performance of high-resolution weather forecasts in predicting this extreme event and the feasibility of weather forecast-based hydrological forecasts. To achieve this goal, high-resolution precipitation forecasts from the Tianji weather system and the forecast system of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) were evaluated with the spatial verification metrics of structure, amplitude, and location. The results showed that Tianji weather forecasts accurately predicted the amplitude of 12-h accumulated precipitation with a lead time of 12 h. The location and structure of the rainfall areas in Tianji forecasts were closer to the observations than ECMWF forecasts. Tianji hourly precipitation forecasts were also more accurate than ECMWF hourly forecasts, especially at lead times shorter than 8 h. The precipitation forecasts were used as the inputs to a hydrological model to evaluate their hydrological applications. The results showed that the runoff forecasts driven by Tianji weather forecasts could effectively predict the extreme flood event. The runoff forecasts driven by Tianji forecasts were more accurate than those driven by ECMWF forecasts in terms of amplitude and location. This study demonstrates that high-resolution weather forecasts and corresponding hydrological forecasts can provide valuable information in advance for disaster warnings and leave time for people to act on the event. The results encourage further hydrological applications of high-resolution weather forecasts, such as Tianji weather forecasts, in the future.

Skilful Forecasts of Summer Rainfall in the Yangtze River Basin from November

Variability in the East Asian summer monsoon(EASM)brings the risk of heavy flooding or drought to the Yangtze River basin,with potentially devastating impacts.Early forecasts of the likelihood of enhanced or reduced monsoon rainfall can enable better management of water and hydropower resources by decision-makers,supporting livelihoods and major economic and population centres across eastern China.This paper demonstrates that the EASM is predictable in a dynamical forecast model from the preceding November,and that this allows skilful forecasts of summer mean rainfall in the Yangtze River basin at a lead time of six months.The skill for May–June–July rainfall is of a similar magnitude to seasonal forecasts initialised in spring,although the skill in June–July–August is much weaker and not consistently significant.However,there is some evidence for enhanced skill following El Niño events.The potential for decadal-scale variability in forecast skill is also examined,although we find no evidence for significant variation.

Ensemble flood predictions for River Thames under climate change

In this study,a Bayesian model averaging(BMA)-based ensemble modeling system is proposed to project future flood occurrences for the River Thames using downscaled high-resolution climate projections from the latest general circulation models(GCMs)in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6(CMIP6).The BMA-based ensemble modeling system integrates multiple hydrological models into the BMA framework to enhance the accuracy of hydrological forecasting,which has shown good performance in validation with the NSE higher 0.91,KGE approaching 0.80,and correlation coefficient higher than 0.96.Daily projections of precipitation and temperature under all four shared socioeconomic pathways were obtained from three GCM models and were further employed to project future potential evaporation.The BMA-based ensemble modeling system was then used to forecast annual maximum flood rates and associated 3-day maximum flood volumes in the future.Our results show that the three GCM models exhibit considerable differences in terms of future flood projections,but all indicate a general increase in flood occurrence and magnitude under future climate change scenarios.The future daily flood events under different climate scenarios are likely to become more severe,as indicated by higher mean,maximum,and 90th quantile values of the AMAX flood series.Meanwhile,the corresponding 3-day flood volumes show varying patterns in terms of mean and extreme flood volumes under different scenarios,but we would have more chances to experience severe 3-day flood volumes in future.The results of our study can provide important information for flood risk management and adaptation planning in the River Thames basin.

Seasonal Forecasts of the Summer 2016 Yangtze River Basin Rainfall

The Yangtze River has been subject to heavy flooding throughout history, and in recent times severe floods such as those in 1998 have resulted in heavy loss of life and livelihoods. Dams along the river help to manage flood waters, and are important sources of electricity for the region. Being able to forecast high-impact events at long lead times therefore has enormous potential benefit. Recent improvements in seasonal forecasting mean that dynamical climate models can start to be used directly for operational services. The teleconnection from E1 Nifio to Yangtze River basin rainfall meant that the strong E1 Nifio in winter 2015/16 provided a valuable opportunity to test the application of a dynamical forecast system. This paper therefore presents a case study of a real-time seasonal forecast for the Yangtze River basin, building on previous work demonstrating the retrospective skill of such a forecast. A simple forecasting methodology is presented, in which the forecast probabilities are derived from the historical relationship between hindcast and observations. Its performance for 2016 is discussed. The heavy rainfall in the May-June-July period was correctly forecast well in advance. August saw anomalously low rainfall, and the forecasts for the June-July-August period correctly showed closer to average levels. The forecasts contributed to the confidence of decision-makers across the Yangtze River basin. Trials of climate services such as this help to promote appropriate use of seasonal forecasts, and highlight areas for future improvements.

Seasonal Rainfall Forecasts for the Yangtze River Basin in the Extreme Summer of 2020

Seasonal forecasts for Yangtze River basin rainfall in June,May–June–July(MJJ),and June–July–August(JJA)2020 are presented,based on the Met Office GloSea5 system.The three-month forecasts are based on dynamical predictions of an East Asian Summer Monsoon(EASM)index,which is transformed into regional-mean rainfall through linear regression.The June rainfall forecasts for the middle/lower Yangtze River basin are based on linear regression of precipitation.The forecasts verify well in terms of giving strong,consistent predictions of above-average rainfall at lead times of at least three months.However,the Yangtze region was subject to exceptionally heavy rainfall throughout the summer period,leading to observed values that lie outside the 95%prediction intervals of the three-month forecasts.The forecasts presented here are consistent with other studies of the 2020 EASM rainfall,whereby the enhanced mei-yu front in early summer is skillfully forecast,but the impact of midlatitude drivers enhancing the rainfall in later summer is not captured.This case study demonstrates both the utility of probabilistic seasonal forecasts for the Yangtze region and the potential limitations in anticipating complex extreme events driven by a combination of coincident factors.

Key Developments in Indian Irrigation Sector

The key developments in Indian Irrigation sector have been presented by briefly discussing the following topics:1.Present Indian Irrigation Challenges and Way Forward.2.Regulatory Interventions in Water Sector in India(Maharashtra’s Example).3.Roles and Activities of Maharashtra Water Resource Regulatory Authority(MWRRA).4.Major Achievements of MWRRA.5.Indian National Committee On Irrigation and Drainage(INCID).6.Irrigation,Command Area Development and Micro Irrigation in India.7.Flood Management and Its Measures.8.Capacity Building.