FEWS

An open shell flood forecasting system 

 
The development of flood forecasting and warning systems is an essential element in regional and national flood alert strategies, and is a high priority in many countries. Typically these systems are no more than a dedicated user interface around hydrological and hydraulic models. Recent developments in numerical weather prediction, radar data and on-line meteorological and hydrological data collection have, however, resulted in an increasing focus on data import and processing within flood warning.
 
Together with the progress in database development, hydrological and hydraulic model development, and on-line data availability, the challenges for developing a modern flood forecasting and warning system is found in the integration of large data sets, specialised modules to process the data, and open interfaces to allow easy integration of existing models capacities.

In response to these challenges, Deltares’ Flood Early Warning System (Delft-FEWS) provides a state of the art flood forecasting and warning system. The system is a sophisticated collection of modules designed for building a flood forecasting system customised to the specific requirements of an individual flood forecasting agency.

 
The philosophy of the system is to provide an open shell system for managing the forecasting process. This shell incorporates a wide range of general data handling utilities, while providing an open interface to a wide range of forecasting models.

The modular and highly configurable nature of the system allows it to be used effectively both in rudimentary forecasting systems and in highly complex systems utilising the full range of hydrological and hydraulic modelling. Delft-FEWS can either be deployed in a stand-alone, manually driven environment, or as a fully automated distributed client-server application.