MIDAS: A New Integrated Flood Early Warning System for the Miño River

Diego Fernández-Nóvoa,Orlando García-Feal,Carlos De Gonzalo,José Antonio Rodríguez-Suárez,Moncho Gómez-Gesteira,Carlos Ruiz Del Portal,José González-Cao

doi:10.3390/w12092319

Abstract

Early warning systems have become an essential tool to mitigate the impact of river floods, whose frequency and magnitude have increased during the last few decades as a consequence of climate change. In this context, the Miño River Flood Alert System (MIDAS) early warning system has been developed for the Miño River (Galicia, NW Spain), whose flood events have historically caused severe damage in urban areas and are expected to increase in intensity in the next decades. MIDAS is integrated by a hydrologic (HEC-HMS) and a hydraulic (Iber+) model using precipitation forecast as input data. The system runs automatically and is governed by a set of Python scripts. When any hazard is detected, an alert is issued by the system, including detailed hazards maps, to help decision makers to take precise and effective mitigation measures. Statistical analysis supports the accuracy of hydrologic and hydraulic modules implemented to forecast river flow and flooded critical areas during the analyzed period of time, including some of the most extreme events registered in the Miño River. In fact, MIDAS has proven to be capable of predicting most of the alert situations occurred during the study period, showing its capability to anticipate risk situations.

Highlights

Flood events have increased both their frequency and intensity during the last few decades [1,2].This has occurred for multiple reasons, but two are especially remarkable
The accuracy of the hydrological module of the proposed early warning systems (EWSs) was evaluated by means of statistical analysis respect to measured river discharge data at Lugo and Ourense stations
This paper presents Miño River Flood Alert System (MIDAS), a new flood early warning system based on integrated hydrologic

Summary

Introduction

Flood events have increased both their frequency and intensity during the last few decades [1,2]. This has occurred for multiple reasons, but two are especially remarkable. Changes in precipitation patterns have been induced by the impact of climate change [5,6]. One of the most dangerous consequences associated with climate change is the intensification of extreme rainfall events, increasing the hazard of the associated flood episodes [7,8,9,10,11]. Flood events have been estimated as one of the most important natural hazards in recent decades

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