Fighting the August Floods in Africa With Predictive Intelligence

Africa is at risk of multiple flooding events during the month of August. The team here at Tomorrow.io recently ran an analysis looking at the...

Africa is at risk of multiple flooding events during the month of August. The team here at Tomorrow.io recently ran an analysis looking at the potentially impacted rivers, countries, and specific location, which include:

  • White Nile, Sudan, Khartoum
  • Nile, Sudan, Ahite
  • Nile, Sudan, Al Fashir
  • Nile, South Sudan, Wunanyak
  • Komadougou, Niger, Zinder
  • Komadougou, Nigeria, Gashua
  • Niger, Niger, Tombo Beri
  • Niger, Mali, Timbuktu
  • White Volta River, Burkina Faso, Kalsaka

While the team is following the flood updates and confidence levels closely, here’s what we know now. Severe floods conditions are expected to affect large parts of Central Africa, from Sudan in the East to Mail in the West. The floods are expected mostly from the second week of August toward the middle of the month, and areas that expected to be under the alert are:

  • Sudan: The White Nile basin in South-West Sudan, at the West Kordofan provinces
  • Chad: The Komadougou River in the Lake Chad basin
  • Nigar: The Dallol Bosso River and the Niger River near the city of Dosso
  • Burkina Faso: The White Volta River in northern Burkina Faso
  • Mali: The Niger river in the Mopti region.

Since the forecast range is still days and weeks away our flood forecasting team will keep watching closely and will continue updating. While these types of weather warnings can be helpful, our team is eager to work with organizations that want to see more predictive and actionable flood warnings for all. For instance, what if people on the ground in Sudan, Nigera, Mali, and everywhere else at risk had access to a predictive impact and insights dashboard? The key word here is IMPACT.

The dashboard below can be used as a guide to help people know what to do and when. It is fully predictive, localized, and automated.

Areas across the continent, down to the street level, could know when floods (or severe weather in general) were going to put their communities at risk. Not only would they have this information, but they would have the information in advance so that action could be taken to avoid losses, destruction, damages, injuries, and lives. As you can see in the image above, it’s entirely possible for people to see days in advance when alerts should go out to communities, when roads will be unsafe, and when people need to be away from hazardous weather during the specific times of flooding. Communications like emails and text messages can be sent directly from this dashboard to ensure people have the right information they need at the right time from a centralized source of truth.

If you would like to learn more about how we can use predictive weather intelligence to drive real change across Africa and remote regions of the world at risk we would love to talk with you today. These are not long-term projects, these are things that can be implemented within days. The technology is here. We can make an impact now!

Talk to us today and let’s protect people from the weather and change the world.

Author picture

Georgina is the co-founder of tomorrownow.org, connecting climate tech with communities in need. She spent a decade at MIT, leading initiatives on technology and social impact. She has worked with the World Bank and Harvard. Georgina supports STEM leadership and is a Parish Councillor. She studied at Oxford and MIT.