The sweet spot of proactive flood response
- katie4663
- Jul 4, 2023
- 1 min read
Time is an emergency manager’s greatest gift, or hindrance, depending on if they have enough of it.
Why is time so important? Because delay, particularly in the operational response and recovery phases of a flood event, can result in unmet need which can lead to suffering in the community.
The graph below is a conceptual model of proactive flood response that drives our work at FloodMapp.
We discussed this in a previous webinar (watch it here), but here’s the breakdown…
The vertical axis is the event scale.
The horizontal axis is time. The curve on the left (red) is the event and how it unfolds – starting as nothing, the rain begins and leads to flooding. The curve on the right (blue) is the timing of the operational response, which lags the event. The red area is unmet need. It’s unmet because of the time it can take for emergency managers to gain situational awareness and then make vital decisions based on that information. The blue area is delayed response where actions are implemented too late. The green area is the sweet spot. That’s the response that we plan for and the yellow dots are the decisions we make along the way. This is where FloodMapp sits.
Without real-time flood intelligence, the situational awareness and information needed to make good, early decisions comes far too late. The data is clunky, slow and unable to be analysed as inundation extents. Because of this, the respective decisions are similarly clunky and delayed.
FloodMapp gives emergency managers the ability to move those decisions forward. Our world-first technology provides data-as-a-service for emergency managers and relevant stakeholders to integrate into existing GIS platforms. The impact maps, shown via ForeCast, NowCast and PostCast, provide scalable situational awareness of flooding before, during and after its peak.
Better understanding the source, location, and depth of flood water can help in a variety of tangible ways, including the ability to order early and targeted evacuations, send resources to the most impacted areas and quicken the recovery process.
The more timely and accurate the decisions, the better response and help to the community. With real-time data, visualised as a predicted or actual flood extent on a map, we can get early intelligence with greater detail, which brings us ahead of the event curve.
If you’d like to discuss this further, please request a demo or reach out to us via hello@floodmapp.com
Thank you for this insightful piece — the explanation of why timeliness matters so much in flood response was especially clear and important. I like how you laid out the consequences of delay and the value of proactive, anticipatory planning in emergencies. I recently read a related article on https://www.inspereza.com/ that also emphasized early intervention — seeing both helps underscore how much more effective disaster response can be when communities plan ahead. Great post and very thought‑provoking.
Great post — I found your breakdown of proactive flood‑response timing and strategy very clear and valuable. The conceptual model with the “sweet spot” really helped me understand how early awareness and action can make a difference. I recently came across a discussion on https://www.rosedalewellness.com/ that also highlighted preparedness and proactive action in a different context, and I thought it tied in nicely with your ideas. Thank you for this insightful read — very timely and important.
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