A new approach for flood warnings is being tested in Ethiopia

Every year, Ethiopia, with its 126 million inhabitants, is affected by flooding. The floods destroy land, roads and buildings and take both animal and human lives. It is often the rural areas that are worst affected.

Since 2018, SMHI and its three sister authorities in Ethiopia have been working together to develop the capacity in the country's hydrology, meteorology and disaster risk reduction.

Read the previous news article'Continued investment to help Ethiopia develop better weather, water and disaster management services"

The new approach is tested during the rainy season

- Together with the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE), the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute (EMI) and the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC), we have now developed a new way of working, whereby MoWE makes daily hydrological forecasts extending three days ahead and reports these to EDRMC. This is the first time that they have worked together in this way, says Richard Alpfjord Wylde, project manager at SMHI.

EDRMC is the Ethiopian equivalent of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and they are responsible for issuing warnings to the population.

The new work method is called 'Hydromet Alert'. It is being tested during the rainy season from June to September in four different areas near the capital Addis Ababa.

A start of something bigger

One of the EDRMC participants, Lemlem Abraha, is satisfied with the project so far:

- I think the test period has worked well. All three organisations involved had a clear and common understanding of how we would work during the test before it started, says Lemlem Abraha, GIS and Remote Sensing Expert, at EDRMC.

- This is an important project and we are on the right track. As the early warning information and coordination center at EDRMC is the one that warns the community of different climate-induced national hazards, it is important that our commission gets the right data at the right time. With this method, we can see exactly where something will happen and how it will affect the area. Thus, this will help us produce different warning products for different target groups in the community. Once the new approach is tested, evaluated, and improved, we will hopefully be able to scale it up to the national level, says Lemlem Abraha.

All partners actively involved

The project is based on active participation and interactivity from all parties. During the meetings, the representatives discuss how the process can be further improved. Decisions are made, implemented and followed up.

- In addition to SMHI's contribution to the development of the actual working method, they have also inspired us of how we can work, by sharing their own experiences. SMHI has also helped us - EDRMC, MoWE and EMI - to find a way to work together in a dedicated way and also to follow up on what has been done.

Historic co-operation agreement signed

Another major step forward for the project that took place during the summer is that all parties have now signed an agreement to share data with each other, which is not as straightforward in Ethiopia as in European countries.

- This is a prerequisite for sustainable and long-term co-operation in the future, says Richard Alpfjord Wylde.

The WACCA-E project is now moving forward with, amongst other things, a technical calibration of the hydrological model Et-HYPE to enable a nationwide application. The current test phase will end on 1 October.

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