Real‐time reservoir flood operation during typhoon attacks

Abstract

This paper introduces an early warning model for floods for real‐time reservoir operation during typhoons. The model contains three main parts: (a) “flood watch” to monitor the current flood situation, (b) “flood release” to estimate probable reservoir releases in the near future, and (c) “decision analysis” to determine an appropriate release policy. A new flood alert index is defined to account for risk and is used to augment reservoir flood operation. In this study, a genetic algorithm‐based rule is presented to specify suitable releases in response to the nature of flood inflows and reservoir water level. To demonstrate the procedure, the proposed method was successfully used in a real reservoir in northern Taiwan. The implementation of such a model proves that it can assist reservoir operators in taking timely action during typhoon events.