Google and the SGB (Geological Survey of Brazil) have announced a partnership in Florianopolis that will enable the issuance of flood warnings on the banks of the country’s rivers. The indicator combines data such as river levels, meteorological indicators and satellite imagery.

According to the UN, Brazil is the country with the highest risk of river flooding in the world. Photo: Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil/ND

Residents of more than 60 settlements will have access to real-time information. The coverage of warnings and forecasts is expected to be extended to other regions in the coming months.

When navigating Google Maps, performing searches, or accessing the new FloodHub flood platform, users will receive alerts and river forecasts.

Flash floods that occur in upstream cities or with rainfall in major urban centers are not part of this system. Gradual flood information is provided on which data can be sent, such as how much water should rise in a given period, allowing for offsets.

A UN (United Nations) report shows that Brazilians are among the most at risk of flooding rivers in the world. Between 2000 and 2019, more than 70 million people were affected by floods in the country.

“We are seeing an increase in the frequency of disasters and critical events around the world due to climate change, and as part of our efforts in this area, we have developed products that provide people with reliable information at critical times to keep them safe before, during and after these events. says Louise Febo, social impact partnership leader at Google.

The technology is already being used in other countries such as India and Bangladesh. Now, in addition to Brazil, it will be available in Colombia, Sri Lanka and 15 African countries such as Chad, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo and South Africa. In 2021, 115 million flood notifications and warnings were sent to 23 million people in India and Bangladesh.

Google emphasizes that the flood warning system combines “computing power and machine learning expertise to develop automated flood forecasting and warning systems on a global scale.”

“The benefit of this partnership is to expand the dissemination of the generated information and leverage Google’s programming capabilities to expand these forecasts to other locations in Brazil in the future,” says Alice Castillo, Director of Hydrology at SGB.

A state-owned company linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, SBG manages hydrological warning systems in 17 Brazilian basins, monitoring rainfall, river levels and hydrological risk maps. This information is periodically sent to civil defense authorities, state and municipal authorities, as well as to the general population.

“At the moment, this information is on the SGB website, we have photos, real-time levels, real-time bulletins too. The whole population can get access to it, but, nevertheless, it is not so easy for the population, it is not so pleasant,” said Artur Matos, coordinator of the SGB hydrological warning system.

*According to Agência Brasil.