Google's AI-Powered Flood Forecasts Cover Over 2 Billion People Worldwide

Google has made significant advancements in flood forecasting using AI over the last decade. In 2018, they piloted a flood forecasting model in India that relied on real-time river data to predict a flood. This technology is now used in 150 countries around the world where more than 2 billion people live.

Deborah Cohen, a senior staff research scientist from Google Research, leads the Flood Forecasting work on the Climate Crisis Resilience team. She explains how AI has made it possible for them to predict riverine floods up to seven days before they strike and urban flash floods up to 24 hours before they hit.

Flood Hub is a tool that takes leading weather data from around the world and uses AI to create prediction alerts on a map. This allows researchers and aid organizations to understand where floods will occur and who's at risk. For example, last year, Give Directly was able to deliver cash to people in Kogi, Nigeria before water actually rose.

The Groundsource methodology is a new AI-powered approach that transforms public disaster data into a high-quality data archive. This has made it possible for them to include predictions for flash flooding in urban areas in Flood Hub.