ResilienTogether is creating a Smart Catchment, through innovative technologies and techniques, to reduce flood risk to people and places, enhance the water environment in the Pix Brook catchment and improve community resilience in the face of climate change.
The project achieves this through a close-knit partnership that collaborate to deliver six inter-related work packages. This case study relates to the Flow Telemetry and Live Modelling Platform Work Packages and outlines the innovative role of council-led forecasting during a flood event in Autumn 2024.
Read more about flood forecasting: Flood Forecasting: Innovation Case Study
The JBA Forecasting System is licensed to ResilienTogether to provide forecasting for the Pix Brook Catchment. It runs a rainfall-runoff catchment model of the Pix Brook using multiple rainfall forecasts to create a probability based projection of river levels. There was therefore an opportunity to assess the previous flooding event using the forecasting system. This data was then also compared to gauge data within the catchment, which provides real-time flood monitoring, assisting with forecasting/flood response within the catchment.
1. Prediction
Flood events can be reasonably well forecasted 24 hours in advance.
2. Awareness
Patterns can be identified to locate where flooding is usually considered most significant to help awareness and preparation.
3. Assessment
The underlying JBA Forecasting System retains forecasts from the last seven days to allow post-event analysis.