Project will increase flood model accuracy

Loughborough-based Previsico has signed up to the national SPRINT business support programme to work with the University of Leicester on a major flood forecasting project. The University of Leicester will provide Previsico with flood extent information retrieved from satellite imagery. This will be combined with real-time flood models based on meteorological forecasts to enhance the accuracy and predictive capabilities of Previsico’s flood forecasting.

Previsico is based at Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park and has developed the first real-time, property-level surface water flood nowcasting technology in the world. The FloodMap Live solution, which is underpinned by more than 20 years of research by Loughborough University academics, provides real-time flood forecasts based on a predictive mapping model.

This allows Previsico to accurately predict where floods will occur to protect human lives and property, allow adaptation plans to be put in place, enable emergency services to respond effectively and support the provision of insurance services.

The University of Leicester is an established centre of expertise in Earth Observation (EO) with a long tradition of exploiting satellite imagery. The SPRINT project will leverage this knowledge by selecting EO data and developing methods to provide flood evolution maps based on satellite EO datasets. This will combine both radar and optical EO datasets with operational flood models to provide a dynamic timeline of validated flooding that will enable more accurate forecasts of flooding evolution.

The project will be funded by a grant from the £4.8 million SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) programme.