Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Researchers at IIT-Indore have developed an Urban Flood Risk Monitoring Application to strengthen the flood resilience of Indian Smart Cities. This innovation is likely to help identify areas in cities that are highly prone to flooding.
The work has been led by Prof. Manish Kumar Goyal and his research scholar Mr. Vijay Jain from the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Indore.
The application provides yearly monitoring of how flood risks change in cities over time using data from the year 1980 onwards.
Urban flooding has become a serious concern as cities expand and climate change leads to unpredictable rainfall. With India’s urban population expected to grow rapidly, it is important to have systems that can assess flood risks quickly and accurately. Traditional flood assessment methods depend on past records, ground measurements, and manual surveys, which take time and do not capture the fast-changing landscape of cities.
This new application addresses these challenges by using satellite-based data along with advanced geospatial analysis. It creates detailed yearly assessments of flood risks in Smart Cities. The tool combines several critical factors to understand flood hazard, vulnerability, and exposure in a complete and integrated way. It uses high-resolution satellite rainfall data to understand yearly rainfall patterns. It also calculates the average depth of possible floodwater in different parts of the city by studying hydrological and topographical data. This helps in identifying locality most likely to face water accumulation and flooding during heavy rains in monsoon months.
To assess vulnerability, the tool considers factors such as distance from rivers and lakes, ground height, slope, city landscape features, vegetation cover, and soil moisture. Vegetation reduces runoff by allowing water to soak into the ground, so areas with less greenery face higher flood risk. The tool also studies how saturated the soil is, since wetter soil leads to more flooding. By combining all these factors, it highlights neighborhoods and infrastructure that may be more vulnerable.
The application also uses population data to assess how many people may be affected in case of a flood. Areas with higher population density receive higher exposure scores because more people and property are at risk. By combining flood hazard, vulnerability, and exposure, the application provides a total flood risk score for each city every year. This helps to track how flood risks change as cities grow or weather patterns shift.
City authorities can use this tool to plan future development wisely, plan flood control measures, improve drainage systems, and, set up early warning systems. Regular monitoring helps cities to respond in advance and protect communities from potential damage.
Prof. Suhas Joshi, Director, IIT Indore, remarked, “This innovation exemplifies IIT Indore’s commitment to developing technologies that directly support national priorities in climate resilience and sustainable urban growth. As Indian cities continue to expand and face rising climate uncertainties, tools like this empower administrators with scientific, real-time intelligence to safeguard communities and infrastructure.”
Prof. Manish Kumar Goyal, Principal Investigator, added, “Our urban flood risk monitoring application combines satellite data and advanced analytics to provide dynamic, city-wide flood risk assessments, enabling Indian Smart Cities to proactively manage flood hazards and enhance urban resilience. This tool empowers policymakers and communities with timely, actionable insights to protect lives, infrastructure, and sustain urban growth amid changing climate and development patterns.”
