Google Expands Flood Forecasting To Include Ghana, Other Countries

Google has extended its flood forecasting to cover 60 more countries in the world with Flood Hub.

The extension covers countries across Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and South and Central America, it noted.

The app provides forecasts up to 7 days in advance of a flood to 460 million people with the help of AI.

“As part of our work to use AI to address the climate crisis, today we’re expanding our flood forecasting capabilities to 80 countries. With the addition of 60 new countries across Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and South and Central America, our platform Flood Hub now includes some of the territories with the highest percentages of the population exposed to flood risk and experiencing more extreme weather, covering 460 million people globally,” Yossi Matias the Vice President of Engineering & Research and Crisis Response Lead noted in a statement.

The countries include Ghana, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan and Thailand.

Google holds that Governments, aid organizations, and individuals can use Flood Hub to take timely action and prepare for riverine floods.

Floods Hub was rolled out in 2018, in India and later to Bangladesh to help combat the catastrophic damage from yearly floods.

It was extended to 18 more countries four years later.