Development of a flood forecasting system in Bangladesh

From the early nineties a flood forecasting and warning system based on an advanced hydraulic model has been applied in Bangladesh. The system has, however, been limited to the forecasting of water levels in the major rivers, and these forecasts have not easily been understood or used by the rural population, as the dissemination system has been insufficient. During the last two years a new enhanced forecasting system has been developed which includes depth-area inundation forecasting. In order to meet the requirements of the end-users of forecasts and warnings, a new dissemination system has also been developed. This new dissemination system includes a suite of phased warning messages that introduces early notification to other agencies and additional phases of warning messages as the severity and impact of flooding increases. The new flood forecasting system, MIKE 11 Flood Watch, has been integrated in a GIS environment and provides a very powerful tool for real-time flood forecasting and flood warning.