Flood forecasting and early warning

This tool is designed to provide a practical, step-by-step guide to developing and operating the total flood warning system to agencies responsible for creating and communicating flood warnings. It covers predicting flood levels and the likely impacts of a flood, designing and disseminating warning messages, as well as the means of reviewing the system’s effectiveness following an event.

It has been prepared to guide flood managers and can be used before, during and after emergencies. It is intended to help decision-makers establish an effective overview of the situation and find answers to their questions quickly. Many countries have already begun to incorporate flood forecasting and early warning in local and national emergency planning systems, and this tool is meant to provide information on developing flood forecasting and early warning schemes to help with this.

In particular, the tool aims to: (i) provide basic information about flood forecasting and early warning, focusing specifically on riverine floods; (ii) identify flood forecasting and early warning components necessary to address flood risks; (iii) provide perspectives on flood forecasting and early warning strategies that are important for planning flood management activities; and (iv) provide guidance for involving local communities and individuals in flood forecasting and early warning.