How to avoid finding your feet in the water in the face of a sudden natural disaster? Anticipating it as best as possible. This is exactly what Google wants to do with its Flood Hub detection tool.
It is deployed in France, as well as in 17 other countries as of now. Thanks to the intervention of artificial intelligence, Flood Hub will be able to prevent the risk of flooding in a specific area for up to 7 days.
At a time when natural disasters tend to multiply with climate change, AI can become an important asset to anticipate. Google had recently launched a feature in the search engine to prevent heat waves in Europe.
The American giant adds a new climate chord to its detection arc to predict floods with a function launched in 2018 in India and Bangladesh. By the end of 2022, South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia were added.
Present on Google Maps and Search
The Flood Hub platform will thus study data and maps to indicate when and where to anticipate possible floods. According to Google, this climate threat is a risk for more than 250 million people in the world and its economic damage can reach 10 billion dollars a year. This will now expand to 80 countries with the arrival of 60 new countries from all continents where the feature will be available.
Flood Hub will allow governments, humanitarian organizations and individuals to access critical information that will be available up to 7 days in advance. The AI will compile weather forecasts and satellite images, then combine them with hydraulic models that predict the amount of water flowing in a river, but also floods with predictions about affected areas and potential water volume.
This large amount of information to better prepare and adapt will refer to river flood forecasts, risk areas and possible period. All of this will be integrated with Google Maps and Google Search.
Google’s new feature complements, or even competes with, FR-Alert, which in France is responsible for sending notifications in case of imminent danger, for example, in the event of a natural disaster. And Flood Hub is now available online for France and the rest of Europe.
Source: BFM TV
