Eight new nations in Africa have been added to Google’s Flood Hub program, which has now been made available in 80 countries worldwide.
There are currently 23 African nations on the Flood Hub. This growth is a result of efforts to address the destructive effects of floods and offer vital assistance to vulnerable areas, efforts made possible by AI. A population of 460 million people worldwide now has access to forecasts up to 7 days in advance thanks to the Flood Hub platform. With this growth, Flood Hub’s beneficial services are now available in more nations, including Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Thailand.
Before this expansion, the Flood Hub platform was accessible in a number of African nations, including Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and South Africa. With this expansion, the platform is now accessible in 60 more nations.
Burundi, Eswatini, Guinea Bissau, Lesotho, Madagascar, Rwanda, Senegal, and Zimbabwe are among these new nations. By including these nations, Flood Hub can provide accurate and timely flood forecasting services to a wider variety of African communities that face high flood risk and extreme weather events.
Each year, floods around the world kill tens of thousands of lives and result in billions of dollars in damages. In low-resource areas, where there are frequently ineffective early warning systems, their effects are more severe. Flood Hub encourages communities to take preventive actions and make wise decisions to lessen the devastating consequences of floods by providing governments, humanitarian organizations, and individuals with cutting-edge flood forecasting tools.
Google is expanding flood alerts through search and maps notifications to further improve flood preparedness, ensuring that people have easy access to crucial and timely flood information. More individuals will be given the ability to take the required safeguards and protect lives and property thanks to this increase.
“We recognize the significant impact that floods have on communities worldwide, especially in regions with limited resources and vulnerable populations,” said Yossi Mattias, VP of Engineering and Research and Lead for Crisis Response at Google.
In order to assist these communities and offer precise flood predictions that can help save lives and safeguard livelihoods, we are committed to extending the scope of the Flood Hub platform.
