Prime News Ghana

NADMO creates flood-predicting app

By Maame Aba Afful
NADMO creates app to predict floods
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The National Disaster Management Organization(NADMO) has created an app that predicts possible flooding hours before they occur for the people in Accra.

The app, known as Flash Flood Forecaster, uses satellite data and a new generation of flood-modeling techniques to accurately predict the area and extent of possible flooding some hours before they occur, allowing residents to take appropriate actions.

It can be downloaded from Google play store.

The President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE), Carlien Bou-Chedid, explained that the app was a good early warning system which would aid in averting the flood situation in the country.

The GhIE president while delivering the 48th presidential address in Accra explained that “Urbanization tends to increase the proportion of impervious areas and, thus the likelihood of flooding, especially when urbanization is unplanned and there are inadequate or non-existent drainage systems.

“In Ghana, the problems are often compounded by poor waste management practices, leading to the few drains being blocked by waste,” she said.

The GhIE had in the past said the concrete surfacing of homes instead of natural vegetation, coupled with lack of rainwater harvesting, increased the risk of floods.

Ghana’s building regulations do not permit that more than 40 percent of a plot area should be covered, but it is hardly enforced.

Accra, which is located on a low-lying area experiences flooding annually mainly because of the disorganized construction of houses, especially on water courses, the poor drainage system and a poor waste management challenge that leads to residents turning drains into refuse dumps.

On June 3, 2015, a twin disaster from flooding and an explosion at a Goil fuel station at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange resulted in the death of more than 150 people.

In 2011, floods in the country resulted in the death of more than 30 people nationwide, with 15 victims in Accra, in addition to the destruction of property running into millions of cedis.

Similar incidents were recorded in 1968, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2010, 2013 and 2014.

www.primenewsghana.com/ Ghana News