The government has launched the 2.0 version of the ‘FloodWatch India’ mobile app to enable extensive and detailed overview of flood conditions across the country.
The new version of the app will provide real-time flood forecasts from 592 monitoring stations and storage positions of 150 major reservoirs in the country.
Union Minister for Jal Shakti CR Patil launched the app developed by the Central Water Commission (CWC) in New Delhi.
“The absence of flood information in real time causes damage to lives and property on a large scale,” said Patil. “Now most people have smart phones that can track flood and reservoir situations in their region,” he added.
‘FloodWatch India’, developed in-house by the CWC, utilizes advanced technologies such as satellite data analysis, mathematical modelling and real-time monitoring to deliver accurate and timely flood forecasts.
The CWC had launched the first version of the mobile application on 17 August, 2023 with the aim of using mobile phones to disseminate information related to flood situations in the country and flood forecasts up to seven days on a real-time basis to the public.
The earlier version provided information on flood forecasts at 200 level forecast stations.
However, the new version of the app provides current information at an additional 392 flood monitoring stations, taking the total number of stations to 592, thus imparting users with an extensive and detailed overview of flood conditions across the country.
Further, this version also provides additional information regarding the storage positions of 150 major reservoirs in the country to help in better understanding of the possible flood situation in their downstream areas.
The user-friendly app presents all the information in two languages - English and Hindi – and is available in readable and audio broadcast format. The app will add other regional languages in the coming days.
The app also provides flood forecasts at the nearest location where users can check the flood situation at the station nearest to them.