A Smartphone Application to Help Alert in Case of Flash Floods

2013

ABSTRACT. – Floods in Asia represent the first natural hazard. During the last five years, major events have affected more than 600 millions in Asian countries and constitute one of the main obstacles to the economic and social developments. In order to address part of the flooding challenge, the use of ICT can be promoted according to the type of flooding and local situation of IT environment. In a very classical approach like the SCADA systems, most of the decision making process takes place after a centralization of data and some simulations produced by one or several models. In such case, the reaction time requests at least several tens of minutes which are already longer than the flooding process that may append in less than 10 minutes after the start of the rain. The UbiFLOOD project deals with implementation of ubiquitous computing in flood warning and forecasting systems in different Asian background and the aim of the UbiFLOOD project is to implement ubiquitous solutions in...

2017

This paper presents the features and architecture of a mobile-based application that is developed to assist flood victims and rescue teams in search and rescue operations.Mobile Flood Assistant (Mo-FA) is an integrated Android-based mobile application to assist Malaysian citizens who live in flood prone areas with an early warning alert and to facilitate the current practice in search and rescue operation.Mo-FA consists of 2 main modules namely Flood Information and Notification Module, and e-SOS Module.The Flood Information and Notification Module aims to provide early warning to the public on possible flood occurrence.It is also able to provide flood-related information such as the amount of rain and river water level using the data obtained from Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID). Relevant information such as the nearest evacuation centers and routes will be displayed on a map to facilitate affected victims to move to a safe area. The second module aims to facilitate the...

La Houille Blanche, 2012

Floods in asia represent the first natural hazard. During the last five years, major events have affected more than 600 millions in asian countries and constitute one of the main obstacles to the economic and social developments. In order to address part of the flooding challenge, the use of Ict can be promoted according to the type of flooding and local situation of It environment. In a very classical approach like the scaDa systems, most of the decision making process takes place after a centralization of data and some simulations produced by one or several models. In such case, the reaction time requests at least several tens of minutes which are already longer than the flooding process that may append in less than 10 minutes after the start of the rain. the ubiFLOOD project deals with implementation of ubiquitous computing in flood warning and forecasting systems in different asian background and the aim of the ubiFLOOD project is to implement ubiquitous solutions in the existing flood warning and forecasting systems. as an outcome, the framework will be developed with the main purpose to alert the population regarding flood alert. since ubiquitous computing in flood warning systems is not widely applied in asia, the new proposed solution within the framework should result in better operational organization and management of warning systems.

Sensors, 2016

When an emergency occurs, citizens can be a helpful support for the operation centers involved in the response activities. As witnesses to a crisis, they initially can share updated and detailed information about what is going on. Moreover, thanks to the current technological evolution people are able to quickly and easily gather rich information and transmit it through different communication channels. Indeed, modern mobile devices embed several sensors such as GPS receivers, Wi-Fi, accelerometers or cameras that can transform users into well-equipped human sensors. For these reasons, emergency organizations and small and medium enterprises have demonstrated a growing interest in developing smart applications for reporting any exceptional circumstances. In this paper, we present a practical study about this kind of applications for identifying both limitations and common features. Based on a study of relevant existent contributions in this area and our personal direct experience in developing and evaluating emergency management solutions, our aim is to propose several findings about how to design effective and efficient mobile emergency notification applications. For this purpose we have exploited the basic sensors of modern mobile devices and the users' aptitude for using them. The evaluation consists of a practical and a theoretical part. In the practical part, we have simulated a traffic accident as closely as possible to a real scenario, with a victim lying on the ground near a car in the middle of a street. For the theoretical part, we have interviewed some emergency experts for collecting their opinions about the utility of the proposed solution. Results from this evaluation phase confirm the positive impact that EN application have for both operators' and citizens' perspective. Moreover, we collected several findings useful for future design challenges in the same area, as shown in the final redesign of the proposed application.

The Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (IJEECS), 2023

Floods are a common natural hazard in Malaysia during the monsoon season. It affects millions of people each year that leads to severe deaths and infrastructure destruction. In recent time, flood warning system (FWS) has been a notable topic but it has not been extensively implemented in Malaysia. In this study, we developed a FWS that can interface with connected vehicles in order to provide alerts to drivers while also sending warnings to end users. This type of FWS enables vehicles to connect with one another within a particular radius to broadcast flood information via long range (LoRa) communication technology. When the water level rises over a certain point, the system sends a warning to drivers indicated through a mobile application. Drivers have the option to take alternative route, reducing the likelihood of damage when driving into or near a flooded area. The developed application demonstrates that the warning was able to be instantly displayed to the driver if there is a significant increase in water level. Experimental evidence shows that the driver was able to receive the water level alert and a visual interpretation of the immediate area affected by flood through the application.

International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, 2019

Flood are the most damaging natural disaster in the world on the occasion of heavy flood, it can destroy the community and killed many lives. The government would spend billions of dollars to recover the affected area. It is crucial to develop a flood control system as a mechanism to reduce the flood risk .Providing a quick feedback on the occurrence of the flood is necessary for alerting resident to take early action such as evacuate quickly to a safer and higher place.as solution to this paper propose a system that is not only able to dtect the water level but also alert about bridge collapse. The development of an android application for all the vehicle owners that uses their smart phones while travelling and getting flood report on the route that they are going to pass through. Working with raspberry pi to detecting the flood, the application alerts the user if their vehicle can either pass though the flood safely, proceed with precaution or shouldn’t pass the route at all because of the flood.

International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 2018

Indonesia is a country prone to earthquake for Indonesia is located between three tectonic plates. Some natural disasters of earthquake caused have a big number of victims. This is due to the ineffectiveness of current early warning system since it still uses conventional way. This study is aimed to create a system that can deliver direct information about earthquake to the people of easy-using mediaand provide direction to the nearest evacuation site to them. Method of system design applies prototype development method. The applied system uses Google Maps API as a tool to trace the user’s location and the evacuation site. In addition, the system will use firebase as a tool of notification delivery.

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2018

Disasters evolving from hazards are a persistent and deadly occurrence in the United States. Despite this, hazard alerts have remained spatially vague, temporally imprecise, and lack actionable information. These deficiencies indicate a divide between the status quo and what is possible given modern environmental models, geographic information systems (GIS), and smartphone capabilities. This work describes an alternative, prototype system, "FloodHippo," which integrates operational model outputs, cloud-based GIS, and expanded communication channels to provide personal and interactive disaster alerts for floods. The precepts and methods underpinning FloodHippo apply equally to other disasters that evolve over space and time, presenting the opportunity for a more intelligent disaster response system. The development of such a system would not only minimize current shortcomings in disaster alerts but also improve resilience through individual action, along with community, academic, and federal cooperation.

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Flooding is a phenomenon that almost always occurs every year in various regions throughout Indonesia with a variety of cycle variations. In the rainy season, high rainfall and narrowed watersheds and silting up are no longer able to accommodate the flow of water, causing flash floods. Flood Warning Systems operate with traditional local wisdom that is highly dependent on the availability and responsiveness of the personnel assigned to oversee the river. Therefore, the development innovation of the existing system is expected to be able to provide information and data regularly and be an early warning to flash floods in order to minimize the impact. This research was conducted to design, create and implement an image-based flash flood early warning system prototype based on an Android cellular phone so that the public is expected to be able to access information on possible flash floods through their respective cell phones. Image processing is the basis of this development innovation through the Background Substraction method which is carried out to automatically detect High Levels of Water (TMA) on the control board (Peil) via an IP Camera which is an input parameter for the system and is processed into information for interested parties. The results of analysis of the detection of water level (TMA) on the peil board carried out on the server computer, become input parameters for determining the status of the dam water level. Flood early warning application that is installed on Android smartphone devices receives data from the server computer via the internet network .

This paper takes a critical look at the role that mobile phones can play in the event of a natural disaster. By using the 2010 Haiti earthquake as the start and focal point of our research this paper goes on to show how mobile phones can be part of an effective strategy to manage the risk posed by natural hazards. This is achieved through mobile phone use on an individual and community level by taking advantage of the portability, ease of use and other characteristics of mobile phones. Mobile phone innovations in the field of Information and Computer Technology for Development (ICT4D) and other relevant innovations are used to give practical examples of how this is possible.

2016

Citizens ’ observatories are emerging as a means to establish interaction and co-participation between citizens and authorities during both emergencies and the day-to-day management of fundamental resources. In this paper we present a case study in which a model of citizens ’ observatories is being been translated into practice in the WeSenseIt project. The WeSenseIt citizens ’ observatory provides a unique way of engaging the public in the decision-making processes associated with water and flood management through a set of new digital technologies. The WeSenseIt citizens ’ observatory model is being implemented in three case studies based in the UK, the Netherlands and Italy. We describe the findings and our experiences following preliminary evaluations of the technologies and the model of co-participation and describe our future research plans.

Sensors, 2020

This paper presents a system of sensors used in flash flood prediction that offers critical real-time information used to provide early warnings that can provide the minutes needed for persons to evacuate before imminent events. Flooding is one of the most serious natural disasters humans confront in terms of loss of life and results in long-term effects, which often have severely adverse social consequences. However, flash floods are potentially more dangerous to life because there is often little or no forewarning of the impending disaster. The Emergency Water Information Network (EWIN) offers a solution that integrates an early warning system, notifications, and real-time monitoring of flash flood risks. The platform has been implemented in Colima, Mexico covering the Colima and Villa de Alvarez metropolitan area. This platform consists of eight fixed riverside hydrological monitoring stations, eight meteorological stations, nomadic mobile monitoring stations called “drifters” us...

2019

Latest developments in crowd-sourcing and inter-user information sharing has led to the idea of sharing crucial information about a near disaster. Having this information can decrease the number of casualties. If people are aware of a near disaster, they can more easily avoid it, which in term, can minimize the damage it makes. The fastest way to get informed, in these situations, is by having peer information and on-time alert. Users of the social networks, have shown, over the years, that they can share information fast in time of a crisis. This type of information sharing is commonly known as crowd-sourcing. In this paper, we propose an android awareness platform called Bewared, which, in term, allows users of the social networks to collaborate, share information and pinpoint a natural disaster with its location. The types of natural disasters, used in this research, are: earthquakes, fires, floods, fire and their level of validity. The application uses some of the existing platf...

This study aimed to develop a flood warning system via SMS notification capable of disseminating information to the community about an impending flood. At present, the dissemination of information or warning the people in the community about an oncoming flood is done manually. The researchers did some document reviews, interviews and observations in order to obtain reliable and accurate information. The researchers discovered that disseminating information especially in the flood prone areas is difficult. In many countries flood warning systems (FWS) have been introduced to minimize losses in lives and properties by warning people in flood prone areas to evacuate and protect their property on time. The proposed system introduced a computerized flood warning system that could easily send information to the people. The system intended to organize the current system and provide assistance to the people in disseminating information. This proposed flood warning system via SMS notification is highly recommended to the office that is in-charge of warning the community about the occurrence of a flood. This proposed system is expected to improve the methods of informing the community every time there is an impending. It could also bring technological advancement not only for the office but also for the people.

New Trends in Urban Drainage Modelling, 2018

FloodCitiSense aims at developing an urban pluvial flood early warning service for, but also by citizens and city authorities, building upon the state-of-the-art knowledge, methodologies and smart technologies provided by research units and private companies. FloodCitiSense targets the co-creation of this innovative public service in an urban living lab context with all local actors. This service will reduce the vulnerability of urban areas and citizens to pluvial floods, which occur when heavy rainfall exceeds the capacity of the urban drainage system. Due to their fast onset and localized nature, they cause significant damage to the urban environment and are challenging to manage. Monitoring and management of peak events in cities is typically in the hands of local governmental agencies. Citizens most often just play a passive role as people negatively affected by the flooding, despite the fact that they are often the ‘first responders’ and should therefore be actively involved. T...