Predicting Floods by Visualizing and Analyzing Latest Weather Data
Vincent Thomas & Felix Friedmann
In June 2013, heavy rainfall in the Canadian Rockies and foothills triggered the worst floods in the history of Alberta. Many communities were displaced and downtown Calgary was completely shut down for days. Sadly, five people perished and property damage amounted to over five billion dollars. The government agency in charge of monitoring the province's rivers water level is the River Forecast Centre (RFC) from the ministry of Environment and Parks of Alberta. In case of an emergency, RFC will act as expert support to several groups such as dam operators, emergency operation centres, industry, First Nations and the general public. In the past, RFC was limited in their rainfall accumulations analysis. Better tools to automate and enhance the visualization and analysis processes were needed to provide better flood forecasts based on watershed basins. To address their needs, a new GIS web application named the Weather Model Assessment Tool (WMAT) was developed. This tool enabled RFC employees to visualize and animate several weather data models and select at-risk watershed basins for detailed analysis. The base data ingested by this new application is downloaded several times each day from the Environment Canada website. The downloaded data is then processed and incorporated in the WMAT website seamlessly. RFC employees can choose a weather model and see the animated precipitation forecast over time. They can also select a basin for further analysis. Then, an Open Source JavaScript tool generates a chart of the amount of precipitation over time. Additionally, WMAT prepares data text files for another RFC's flow forecast tool.
Event: FIG Working Week 2016 : Recovery from Disaster
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