Ahead of monsoon, flood prediction in Meenachil goes hi-tech

With just some days for the monsoon to set in over Kerala, a gaggle of conservationists have joined arms to give you a singular, hi-tech flood alert system for the Meenachil — a river that has ploughed previous its banks each wet season since 2018.

Thanks to the Meenachil River Protection Council (MRPC), a cell app that may replace the general public on the real-time water stage, rain fall information and flood danger predictions will turn out to be operational on June 5. The app, developed by a group of technical consultants led by Jubilant Job, an engineering school instructor, will begin off by offering real-time studies of the water stage in the water physique and transfer to an Artificial Intelligence-based mannequin to indicate the place flooding could happen over a spread of water ranges and the prolong of the anticipated flood.

“To start with, we now have developed algorithms by combining the information units on rainfall and water stage recorded throughout the Meenachil basin in totally different durations over the previous one yr. The accuracy of the predictions , nevertheless, will be improved additional time with extra information”, famous Mr Job.

As half of the initiative, the MRPC has already put in rain gauges in 40 totally different places throughout the river basin from Vagamon to Kumarakom, apart from scales to measure the depth of the river at Bharananganam, Erattupetta, and Kidangoor. The volunteer group is now awaiting the State-wide lockdown to ease for putting in one other set of 42 rainfall gauges and some extra river-depth scales to enhance the information assortment course of.

The MRPC has additionally engaged a three-tier system of citizen reporters for accumulating the real-time information. “The first is a gaggle of 27 rain gauge-monitors, who function from particular sub-water sheds and enter the information from their respective rain gauges on to a web-based kind. They are assisted by a second group of citizen reporters who present real-time studies on the rainfall and flood stage at totally different places whereas the third group of volunteers are those that have joined us by a web-based invitation”, mentioned Eby Immanuel, General Secretary of the organisation,

The information and studies collected from totally different places are at present collated and analysed by a core-committee of consultants comprising scientists, environmentalists and authorities officers after which launched to the general public by the social media.

Meanwhile, scientists with the Central Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) have now expressed their curiosity in collaborating with the undertaking.