Google announces expansion of its flood forecasting initiative to India

By Team Newsable | First Published Nov 12, 2021, 5:30 PM IST

The flood forecasting project is part of Google's more extensive Crisis Response programme, which gives individuals access to credible information and assistance during times of crisis.

Google has announced the expansion of their flood forecasting effort to all of India. The effort, which began in 2018, spans a region with around 220 million people to help mitigate the devastating devastation caused by floods each year. According to a blog post published this week by the business, it has now been "extended to encompass a region with approximately 360 million people." It nearly quadrupled the number of potentially life-saving notifications in the first three years, sending out "over 115 million" in 2021, from 40 million in the first three years.

The flood forecasting project is part of Google's more extensive Crisis Response programme, which gives individuals access to credible information and assistance during times of crisis.

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"Our flood forecasting system is now operational throughout India and Bangladesh, and we are aiming to spread these potentially life-saving notifications to nations in South Asia and South America. And, eventually, we hope to have them available everywhere," it was said in the blog post. The business stated that its goal is to make alerts more local, accessible, actionable, and accurate.

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While most worldwide flood alerts indicate how much a river would rise, Google's flood alerts display inundation maps, illustrating the width and depth of flooding directly on top of Google Maps. With this so that people can visualise this crucial information more readily." The digital behemoth also just established the Google Flood Hub, which makes flood data even more local. It lets users zoom into inundation maps to locate information on the same flood and focus on exact places, such as a community.

According to the post, the Flood Hub displayed the same depth and flood extent information more visually comprehend the present rapidly and predicted flood scenario in their location. Moving forward, the primary site will be our major source for local, visual forecast information. In addition, the firm has collaborated with several local assistance organisations, including the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Indian Red Cross Society, to help convey notifications to individuals who do not have cellphones or internet access.

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