Flood Monitoring in Sudan
Impact
Approx. number of individuals who received assistance following extensive flooding in Al Fao using our flood maps
Hours within which we delivered high-res flood extents and impact statistics
Villages inspected for flood risk using our risk analytics
THE PROBLEM
Sudan has faced record rainfall over the past three years. Overflowing rivers have flooded thousands of hectares of farmland, preventing crops from being planted and killing nearly 800,000 livestock who relied on those crops for food. The UN estimates that 835,000 people were impacted by floods in 2020 alone.
In 2021, The World Food Programme office in Sudan needed a way to monitor flooding throughout the rainy season, and receive intelligence on flood disasters as they unfolded in real time to improve their emergency response.
THE SOLUTION
Floodbase worked with the WFP Sudan Office to support them throughout the rainy season:
Flood monitoring: In 2021, WFP Sudan needed to identify priority areas to distribute aid to affected populations at a national level. We provided them with full-country flood monitoring for six months with weekly updates, and high resolution flexible emergency event maps into critical infrastructure and populations.
In August of that year, a major flood in Al Fao impacted approximately 20,000 people. Within 24 hours, we delivered high-resolution flood extents and impact statistics to our partners at the UN. Following the incident, an interagency assessment involving UN OCHA, WFP and regional coordinators used our maps to show evidence of flooding and secure donor aid for the impacted population.
A month later, In September 2021, a river dyke failed along the White Nile in Juda, Eljablein.
We equipped WFP Sudan with high-resolution flood analytics to support emergency action following the dyke breach. We provided the first estimates for impact to infrastructure, population, cropland, residential areas and refugee camps:
This same high resolution report was used for an intersectoral engineering assessment on dyke reconstruction in the region. Our analytics were used to plan dyke reconstruction to prevent future flooding in 43 villages, one refugee camp, and surrounding cultivated areas.
In our partner’s words, our maps helped WFP Sudan “focus, plan and conduct on the ground assessments to determine emergency response.”
Risk analysis: WFP Sudan used our Risk Analysis product to identify at-risk districts to pilot the country’s first flood risk financing scheme to help communities avoid negative coping strategies.
We provided a historical flood risk dataset outlining flood frequency for three critical regions of interest and supported WFP’s scientists in correlating historical observed floods to rainfall measurements. Using this intelligence, they are piloting a forecast-based financing scheme in 3 key, high flood-prone areas.
