Google now provides AI-powered flood alerts to 23 African countries with addition of 8 new countries

In its continued fight against flooding which is one of the most common and deadliest natural disasters, global technology company, Google has announced the expansion of its Flood Hub platform to include 8 new African countries. These new countries include Burundi, Eswatini, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Madagascar, Rwanda, Senegal, and Zimbabwe.

This expansion comes as part of Google’s AI-enabled efforts to address the devastating impacts of floods and provide critical support to vulnerable communities. Floods claim tens of thousands of lives and cause billions of dollars in damages each year across the world. Their impacts are particularly severe in low-resource regions that often lack effective early warning systems.

Thus, by equipping governments, aid organisations and individuals with advanced flood forecasting tools, Flood Hub empowers communities to take proactive measures and make informed decisions to reduce the devastating effects of floods.

These addition of 8 new African countries brings the total number of African countries covered in Google’s Flood Hub to 23. Other countries in the hub include Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and South Africa.

The inclusion of these countries ensures that a broader range of African communities facing high flood risk and extreme weather conditions can benefit from Flood Hub’s accurate and timely flood forecasting services.

“We recognise the significant impact that floods have on communities worldwide, especially in regions with limited resources and vulnerable populations. We are committed to expanding the reach of the Flood Hub platform to support these communities and provide accurate flood forecasting that can help save lives and protect livelihoods.”

Yossi Mattias, VP Engineering & Research and Crisis Response Lead.

Google flood alerts relies on various governments to be able to provide flood forecasts in real-time, It compliments the efforts of these governments by bringing accurate modelling to the process. The system collects thousands of satellite images to build a digital model of the terrain. Based on the digital maps, the system generates hundreds of thousands of simulations of how rivers and other water bodies could possibly behave.

The system then receives the measurements from the government and cross the measurements with its simulations to determine if there would be a flooding or not. These results are sent to individuals through Search, Maps, Android notifications etc in form of alerts. Google Flood Alert can have over 90% accuracy rate.

The Flood Hub platform which covers 80 countries worldwide, now offers forecasts up to 7 days in advance, benefitting a population of 460 million people globally. To further enhance flood preparedness, Google is expanding flood alerts through Search and Maps notifications, ensuring that individuals have convenient access to timely and critical flood information. This expansion aims to empower more people to take necessary precautions and safeguard lives and property.

Since 2019, nonprofit organisations have been working with Google.org to establish offline alerting networks, acknowledging the limited access to cell phones or the internet in some communities. These networks are designed to leverage trained and trusted community volunteers who play a crucial role in amplifying the reach of Flood Hub’s warnings. As a result, even individuals without digital connectivity are able to receive life-saving flood alerts, ensuring their safety during times of crisis.