Expert comment: Bangladesh flood warnings supporting communities
17 August 2020
"The impacts of the Bangladesh flooding continue to be felt by those that rely on the flooded land for their livelihoods. Families across the region are seeing the crops they need to eat and sell, as well as the homes they sleep in, waist-deep under dirty water.
"Flood levels remain above the warning level in Bangladesh, but are expected to fall. There is no indication of further flooding at this stage, but it is not unusual for monsoon rains to drive further flood events in September.
"University of Reading researchers have been working in collaboration with humanitarian agencies and national hydrological and meteorological forecasting services to advise on how forecasts can be used to take humanitarian action before flooding strikes. This anticipatory action has been shown to be a more cost-effective and beneficial way of supporting disaster-hit communities.
"We have been undertaking research in collaboration with the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre and humanitarian agencies in Bangladesh to enable earlier action before flooding strikes. This has led to extended-range forecasts from the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) being embedded within existing forecasting capabilities in Bangladesh.
"This approach has played a central role in an enormous multi-agency intervention before flood events this year in Bangladesh, which has supported communities with more than £4 million of aid to enable them to prepare for floods."