Urban Drainage

Real Time Urban Flood Forecasting is Now a Reality

It has long been the case that local councils would significantly benefit from a real time urban flood warning system, to enable them to put sandbags and other measures in place before flooding occurs. Historically the complex and slow nature of modelling systems has prevented their use in real time situations, however Richard Allitt Associates has now successfully developed an urban flooding model that sends out alerts allowing for timely mitigation measures.

Details of this new system were presented by Richard Allitt Associates at the 2015 CIWEM Urban Drainage Group Conference. Following a trial over the past 18 months in partnership with Bournemouth Borough Council, Poole Borough Council and Wessex Water, the model has been refined and has now been running smoothly for many months.

Hydraulic Modeller, Bryony Crickmore who has worked on the project and presented at the CIWEM conference said “For the first time it is now possible to offer bespoke urban flood forecasting. This is an exciting development which allows local authorities & relevant bodies to take timely action to reduce the effects of flood events.”

Click here to see the full presentation 

The model uses Innovyze ICM Live and is capable of giving emailed alerts for predicted flood events and CSO spills.

Benefits for Local Councils

Accurate prediction of flood;

Enables councils to prepare the catchment by;