Ward officers to monitor, predict floods via IFLOWS-Mumbai, mobilise resources as and when required
A screenshot of IFLOWS interface
In the past two days, there has been much praise for IFLOWS-Mumbai — a state-of-the-art flood warning system developed for the island city that can predict floods from three hours to three days in advance in specific geographical areas — thereby giving ward officers and disaster management officials a heads-up to carry out evacuation measures in low-lying areas.
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The software — tailor-made by the National Centre for Coastal Research NCCR for the BMC — was described by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as a "boon" during a videoconference after the software-s launch on Friday as Mumbai has started receiving light showers with heavy rain forecast for the weekend.
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology, and Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan, who was present at the launch, said the system would help Mumbaikars "in a big way" since it can predict floods.
The system collects data such as topography, drainage system, water bodies in the city, etc and forecasts the level of inundation in certain pockets. However, once the prediction is made, it will ultimately be the responsibility of the area-s ward officer to carry out timely evacuation, divert traffic if needed, and impose safety measures in the area.
The precursor to IFLOWS-Mumbai was a software called C-FLOWS developed by NCCR which falls under the Ministry of Earth Sciences for Chennai after the Chennai floods last year; work on the Mumbai model began after the Disaster Management Department of MCGM approached MoES to develop a similar system in August last year.
Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velrasu said: "The software has ward-level predictability ranging from three hours to three days. The three-day window will be helpful for evacuations while the six-hour window will help divert traffic from potentially flooded areas. Since this is the first year, we will have to observe how well it works."
"Accessibility to the software has been given to every ward officer. Every ward has a control room, which, during the monsoon, will be told to make predictions for the ward. If a particular ward is expecting flooding within the next two days, the ward officer will mobilise his team, move people and make arrangements for evacuation if needed."
He added: "The officers at the ward will be the first responders. Ward level accessibility has been given because their machinery is well equipped to handle such situations."
What its makers say
Speaking from Chennai, Dr M V Ramana Murthy, director, NCCR, whose team, along with other departments under the MoES, developed C-FLOWS said the software fell under the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority TNSDMA whereas, IFLOWS-Mumbai developed for the Disaster Management Cell falls under the authority of the corporation, not the state.
"The Disaster Management Cell under BMC has a more efficient system in place. They have an entire team dedicated to Mumbai city alone. Functionality wise, this is more efficient."
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