Mozambique’s major rivers flood almost annually, with devastating impacts for neighboring communities. Regulating small dikes and levees is crucial in managing this flood risk, yet critical information needed by ground water managers is often lacking, including assessments of vulnerable flood mitigation infrastructure. When this type of information is available, it is typically low resolution and only made available for high-level decision makers, making real-time flood risk management a difficult prospect.
To help local water managers better detect and identify flood risk through improved monitoring of dykes, a team from FutureWater adapted a low-cost, high-resolution Flying Sensor toolkit to Mozambique’s unique geographical context. The team’s use of aerial photograph allows water managers to anticipate floods by developing an appropriate response plan, take immediate action in case of a flooding, and assist in recovery efforts during a flood event.