Providing early warnings of flooding in the transport sector

The year 2021 was not only marked by the global Corona crisis, but also by the effects of the climate crisis, which were once again made visible by floods and fires. Even in Germany, large parts of the countryside as well as many communities were destroyed by floods. The floods were triggered by unusually long-lasting heavy rainfall, which was probably a consequence of global warming. Experts predict an increased occurrence of such weather events in the future. Reason enough to develop forecasting methods that could at least minimize the loss of life and limb.

The project "ISRV - Intelligent Heavy Rainfall-Related Flood Risk Warning in the Transport Sector" is therefore dedicated to predicting flooding scenarios using artificial intelligence in order to warn the population at an early stage. Together with industry partners, the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management (IWW) at RWTH Aachen University, led by JARA-ENERGY member Prof. Holger Schüttrumpf, is developing a real-time forecasting system for heavy rainfall in the transport sector. This system is designed to augment previous precipitation forecasts with point-in-time flooding warnings and finally transmit them as warnings to navigation devices. In the event of a heavy rainfall event, traffic flows could thus be diverted in good time depending on the water level, flow velocity and traffic infrastructure.

The project receives funding of around 500,000 euros from the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure’s the Modernization Fund ("mFUND").

Further information is available on the RWTH Aachen website: https://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/root/Die-RWTH/Aktuell/Pressemitteilungen/November-2021/~rqfsr/Kuenstliche-Intelligenz-soll-vor-Folgen/?lidx=1