IIT-Bombay develops app, website for near real-time forecasting of rainfall, flooding in Mumbai

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) has developed experimental hyperlocal rainfall forecasting and flood monitoring online platforms for the monsoon season.

The system has been developed by a team of students, faculty and staff from IIT-B's Interdisciplinary Programme in Climate Studies (IDPCS). The system is currently developed only for Mumbai alone.

The information on near real-time rainfall and waterlogging can be accessed through the web portal,https://www.mumbaiflood.in/ and the MUMBAI FLOOD APP. The portal and the app will provide rainfall forecasts and flood updates for people to plan their days accordingly.

The initiative is taken by HDFC-ERGO IIT Bombay (HE-IITB) Innovation Lab, with funding from HDFC ERGO, in collaboration with the MCGM Centre for Municipal Capacity Building and Research (MCMCR).

The system uses weather data from the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) main observatories in Colaba, Santacruz, and Marine Lines, and also taps over 60 automatic weather stations and rainfall monitoring stations all across Mumbai and the surrounding areas.

The hyperlocal rainfall forecasts have been derived from global forecasting systems (GFS) and enhanced through AI/ML modeling. Users can access hourly rainfall updates for the next 24 hours on the rainfall tab in both the web portal and app.
Users can get live water-level information. The system has nine water-level monitoring stations at various flood-prone areas in Mumbai. The stations will try to give near-real-time waterlogging updates during the monsoon.

Users can report floods in their area by filling out the water level form on the web portal or mobile app.
 

Additionally, the system provides information on near real time flooding details for local railway stations in Mumbai.

People can also know about ‘negative' and ‘positive’ sentiments regarding monsoon. The system will incorporate posts from X using hashtags such as #MumbaiRains.

In Mumbai, the Regional Meteorological Department (RMC) has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Palghar, Satara and Kolhapur today. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a high tide warning today. Rainfall in Mumbai has crossed the 1,000 mm-mark this monsoon season, according to reports.