Now, a model to estimate Pakistan’s recovery from floodwater

WASHINGTON - The recent flood in Pakistan is the most horrendous disaster in the recent times, which has left the already ravaging economy craving for help from the squares of the world.

Now, there’s some technological help from new computer model, which simulates the flooding, estimates the total draw down of the floodwaters, and predicts how long it will take the waters to recede.

Named as DSS-WISE (Decision Support System - Water Infrastructure Security), it incorporates and integrates thousands of data points - from historical, geographical, economical, and satellite info - and paints a current picture and prediction scenario to help with Pakistan’s disaster efforts.

The model is already in use at Dept of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate by hydraulic engineers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) - Engineer Research and Development Centre (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL).

The results provided by the numerical model can be directly imported onto a GIS environment to be displayed as maps and overlaid on various types of satellite imagery and background maps.

The model was developed for S and T by researchers at the National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering (NCCHE) at The University of Mississippi (UM).

S and T’s Mike Matthews, the program manager, said, ” Pakistan’s flood disaster has given a demanding workout to the DSS-WISE software but it has proven it can provide accurate and timely predictions even under very challenging modelling requirements.” (ANI)