Environment Agency poised to open flood data to public
 

I wonder if this will finally free-up all the real-time gauge data from hundreds of sites across the country that the EA and the UKMO have access to?

What's the point of these organisations squirreling away this data, when some entrepreneur with a bit of vision, and who can put a team together with the requisite skills in Hydrology, GIS and mobile software development, can produce a flood alert system based on postcodes that really works?

http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...data-maps-apps

Environment Agency poised to open flood data to public
 

exmetman wrote:

I wonder if this will finally free-up all the real-time gauge data from
hundreds of sites across the country that the EA and the UKMO have access
to?

What's the point of these organisations squirreling away this data, when
some entrepreneur with a bit of vision, and who can put a team together
with the requisite skills in Hydrology, GIS and mobile software
development, can produce a flood alert system based on postcodes that
really works?


On the subject of flood alerts, I have tried several times to sign up for
flood alerts on the EA website as I have 2 streams running through my
grounds that feed the River Wey and according to their flood maps, large
parts of my grounds are at medium risk and some parts are at high risk of
flooding. Indeed I have had large areas of grass underwater twice this
winter.

Each time I try to register I just get a message saying 'Sorry, our service
does not provide warnings for this address'.


--
Brian Wakem
Lower Bourne, Farnham, Surrey
http://www.brianwakem.co.uk/weather/latest_obs.txt
http://www.brianwakem.co.uk/weather/...am%20Vale.html

Environment Agency poised to open flood data to public
 

On 28/02/2014 18:31, exmetman wrote:
I wonder if this will finally free-up all the real-time gauge data from hundreds of sites across the country that the EA and the UKMO have access to?

What's the point of these organisations squirreling away this data, when some entrepreneur with a bit of vision, and who can put a team together with the requisite skills in Hydrology, GIS and mobile software development, can produce a flood alert system based on postcodes that really works?

http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...data-maps-apps


What is so difficult about keeping an eye on your local wwww-feed gauge
output, eg upstream of my local river
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...stationId=1054
and get familiar with what the gauge readings mean in relation to
actuality on the ground.
Be in a dedicated alliance with another local person for 2 sets of eyes,
for added assurance , and agree to inform a few other locals amongst you
for the jungle telegraph, when things get a bit hairy

Environment Agency poised to open flood data to public
 

Nothing wrong wit that at all but...
This is the 21st century and we know if a certain catchment area gets more than 300 mm of rain in less than 7 days the river the runs through it will burst its banks an flood 50 properties. That's a fact and will happen especially if we have been monitoring soil moisture...
So tie in the NWP data for the next 15 days into a GIS model and get a weeks notice of the risk!
So the moral of the story is - don't keep an eye on the actual water level but monitor the risk of flooding by modelling the forecast rainfall amounts against the actual topography of the rivers catchment area.
This is relatively easy to do and would help everybody in the community. We are personally not affected by flooding so I can't say if it is available from the EA at present, I'm just saying that its very easy to do and wonder why we seem to get caught out by every flood event that comes along.

Environment Agency poised to open flood data to public
 

On 03/03/2014 08:03, exmetman wrote:
Nothing wrong wit that at all but...
This is the 21st century and we know if a certain catchment area gets more than 300 mm of rain in less than 7 days the river the runs through it will burst its banks an flood 50 properties. That's a fact and will happen especially if we have been monitoring soil moisture...
So tie in the NWP data for the next 15 days into a GIS model and get a weeks notice of the risk!
So the moral of the story is - don't keep an eye on the actual water level but monitor the risk of flooding by modelling the forecast rainfall amounts against the actual topography of the rivers catchment area.
This is relatively easy to do and would help everybody in the community. We are personally not affected by flooding so I can't say if it is available from the EA at present, I'm just saying that its very easy to do and wonder why we seem to get caught out by every flood event that comes along.


Unfortunately you cannot rely on systems and the old adage that " if
something can go wrong , it will go wrong , at the most inopportune moment".
I got into monitoring and predicting local marine flood risk , because I
was one of 2 nominated local flood wardens for the EA system. Apart from
a couple of test phone-calls from that system , I never received a call
when marine flooding was iminent and required

Environment Agency poised to open flood data to public
 

I've no idea how they could get a warning out in time for such as the
Lynton/Lynmouth flooding or the Boscastle one.

On marine flooding the EA could output advisory warnings some time
before they do send out any warning, by which time it is rather too late.
I was aware last friday that this monday noon time tide for Southampton
had the boxes ticked for a surge tide.
Large area of the N Atlantic overlain by sub1013mB air, that system
moving west to east generally, 975mB low passing near central south
coast about noon today, astronomically predicted spring tide .
Yesterday I knew it was not going to be that extreme,from
http://www.ntslf.org/numerical-model...ort=Portsmouth
and the timing put it as passing 4 hours before noon (Southampton with
extended high tides has more chance of catching surges than other ports).
It looks as though the jetstream at the moment and for most of the
winter has been protecting the UK as far as marine flooding. The
northward kink to the east of us, rather than going straight over the
UK, seems to have blocked the north Atlantic doming that would otherwise
come towards us, leaving just the general low atmospheric pressure
leading to elevated sealevel , each 10mB drop allowing another 0.1m rise
in seawater level