FloodWatch System¶

An operational flood early warning platform for the Greater Horn of Africa

What is FloodWatch?¶

FloodWatch is a real-time flood monitoring and early warning system developed by ICPAC (IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre). It monitors 3,199+ river control points across 11 countries, providing discharge forecasts, flood alerts, and impact assessments to support disaster preparedness.

Forecast Models¶

FloodWatch integrates multiple hydrological and weather forecast models:

Model	Type	Description
GeoSFM	Hydrological	Satellite-driven streamflow model for Africa
MIKE	Hydrological	Danish Hydraulic Institute river basin model
FloodPROOFS	Hydrological	CIMA Foundation deterministic flood forecasting
Google Flood Forecasts	Hydrological	Google AI-based flood prediction
HYPE	Hydrological	Swedish SMHI large-scale hydrological model (coming soon)
WRF	Weather	High-resolution rainfall forecasts

Key Features¶

Feature	Description
Real-Time Monitoring	Interactive map with discharge forecasts and alert classification (Warning, Alarm, Emergency)
Ensemble Forecasts	7-day ensemble discharge forecasts with uncertainty bands
Satellite Flood Extent	Flood extent mapping from satellite imagery with return period analysis
CAP Alerts	Common Alerting Protocol integration for national warning systems
Impact Assessment	Expert-driven flood impact reports with population exposure estimates
GeoManager CMS	Open-source geospatial layer management (raster, vector, WMS, tiles)

Architecture¶

graph TB
    subgraph Data Sources
        A[GeoSFM / MIKE / FloodPROOFS]
        B[WRF Rainfall]
        C[Google Flood Forecasts]
        D[Satellite Imagery]
    end

    subgraph FloodWatch Platform
        E[Ingestion Jobs] --> F[(PostgreSQL / PostGIS)]
        F --> G[FastAPI]
        F --> H[Map Services]
        I[GeoManager CMS] --> F
        G --> J[Map Viewer]
        H --> J
    end

    A --> E
    B --> E
    C --> E
    D --> I

    J --> K[End Users]

Component	Technology	Purpose
Frontend	Next.js, MapLibre GL	Map viewer and flood analysis dashboard
API	FastAPI	Forecast data, summaries, and alerts
CMS	Django, Wagtail, GeoManager	Layer management and content admin
Map Services	MapServer, MapCache, pg_tileserv	Raster and vector tile serving
Database	PostgreSQL, PostGIS	Spatial data storage
Ingestion	Scheduled Python jobs	Automated data sync from FTP/SFTP sources

Coverage¶


Burundi	Djibouti	Eritrea
Ethiopia	Kenya	Rwanda
Somalia	South Sudan	Sudan
Tanzania	Uganda

Quick Links¶

Getting Started — Local development setup
API Reference — Interactive Swagger docs
Architecture — System design
Deployment — CI/CD pipeline

Funding & Partners¶

The WHCA (Water at Heart) project covers Nile basin countries (Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sudan), funded by the Netherlands Red Cross through the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, channelled via WMO to ICPAC as the implementing agency.

Partner	Role
ICPAC	Implementing agency — system development and operations
Netherlands Red Cross	WHCA funding via Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
WMO	Programme coordination
UNDRR	Disaster risk reduction framework
CIMA Foundation	FloodPROOFS hydrological model
SMHI	HYPE hydrological model