UPEI professor develops model to predict urban flooding in real-time
A UPEI professor is proposing a new way to predict urban flooding caused by heavy rainfall.
Xander Wang, in UPEI's school of climate change and adaptation, released his findings in a paper titled Urban Flood Prediction Under Heavy Precipitation. It was published in the Journal of Hydrology.
"We are seeing more frequent flood events, especially in cities around the world," he said. "In the context of global warming, we are seeing more water coming from the ocean, to the air, and to land surface. Under global warming this has intensified significant.
He said it is "very important to model" so that where flooding will happen can be better understood.
Human-made challenges
The challenge in creating flooding models, Wang said, is that urban settings are made by humans and modified by human activity, unlike natural watershed models.
"It's very complicated systems so we need to use a new model to deal with that," he said.
Wang said his model, which relies on mathematics, provides a real-time prediction of flooding with the aim of being able to take action more quickly.
Another benefit to his model, he said, is the model's ability to predict potential flooding in the future.
To test his model, Wang used it to reproduce the 2016 flood in Lafayette Parish, La. He said the model performed well in simulating the scenario.
"We can set up different global warming scenarios and then [look] for patterns and then you can see where it's going to be flooded for for the future," Wang said.
He said the model could be helpful in predicting the Island's future flooding and plan for infrastructure development.
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