People turn to Google for accurate and helpful information during crises to help them protect themselves and their families. Floods are the most common type of natural disaster and nearly 1.5 billion people, or some 19 percent of the world population, are directly exposed to substantial risks from severe flood events worldwide. Flooding also exacts an immense material toll, causing around $50 billion in annual global economic damages. For most of history, accurate flood forecasting at scale was not possible due to the complexity of the problem and lack of resources and data. Given that only a small percentage of the world’s rivers are equipped with streamflow gauges, this provided an extra barrier to safety for people in developing countries as well as in underserved and vulnerable communities. In a paper published today in Nature, we share how AI can help scale flood forecasting and bring help to parts of the world that are most impacted by climate change. We found that AI helped us to provide more accurate information on riverine floods up to 7 days in advance. This allowed us to provide flood forecasting in 80 countries in areas where 460 million people live. Where possible, we also provide forecasts in Google Search and Google Maps and via Android notifications. The paper — described in more detail in our Research blog — demonstrates how AI-based global hydrologic technologies built by Google Research can significantly improve flood forecasting relative to the current state-of-the-art. This is even true for countries where reliable flood-related data is scarce, making it possible to expand flood forecasting on a global scale. Early warning systems can significantly help reduce fatalities, and having more lead time is extremely helpful for communities. With these technologies we extended, on average, the reliability of currently-available global nowcasts from zero to five days, and we were able to use AI-based forecasting to improve forecasts in regions in Africa and Asia to be similar to what are currently available in Europe.
Full research : Google Research details how AI helped to provide accurate flood forecasting in over 80 countries up to seven days in advance of the flood.
