Raw footage: Latvian locals get new flood warning app

In July 2024, a severe storm brought three months of rain in just 24 hours to the Latvian city of Jelgava. “The rainwater levels were even up to one meter high,” said Mareks Tipa, a local civil protection engineer. “We didn't have electricity for two days.” 

The heavy and sudden rainfall overwhelmed the city’s drainage system of ditches, channels, and stormwater sewers. Pumps function as an overflow safeguard, but if there is too much water, they can become overloaded.   

“Our systems are ready to take precipitation for 20 to 30 millimetres a day. Not 200 or 300,” said Mārtiņš Kazanskis of the Jelgava City Municipality Institution. Total damages from the flooding are estimated to be around €13 million.  

Jelgava is the capital of Latvia’s central, low-lying Zemgale region. The city regularly floods during the winter and springtime, but milder winters and hotter summers are changing how the city floods. “There is room for accumulation of moisture in the atmosphere, and this could end up with heavy rainfalls like we experienced last year here,” said Ingrīda Brēmere, deputy chairperson of the Baltic Environmental Forum, a non-profit. 

Early warning app 

The EU–funded IMPETUS project, the Baltic Environmental Forum, the Zemgale Planning Region, and the Jelgava Digital Centre are developing new ways to adapt to this changing flood risk. The latter has now introduced an easy-to-use web application that acts as an early warning system for residents about potential flood events right from their phones. 

“Previously we informed our citizens only when the danger was already there,” said Marija Stocka, Project Manager at Jelgava Digital Center. “But right now, we can predict these floods around one two days before they're actually coming.”  

At the core of the early warning system is a powerful tool for simulating flood scenarios using weather forecast data called the HEC-RAS model. The system maps out potential flood zones and overlays them with the exact locations of homes and properties.   

By comparing these layers, the system sees if rising water levels could reach residential areas. Once the model predicts potential flooding in a certain area, trained specialists get notified and travel to the area.  

Inspection 

“With the drone, we look at the threatened areas and give a video of the operational photography of the data to the Civil Protection Commission, so that decisions can already be made - whether for evacuation or for the alert element,” explained Mareks Tipa of the Municipal Operational Information Center. 

To receive alerts, citizens register and select up to three locations they want to monitor in the system. — like their home, their child’s school, or their workplace. This targeted approach makes sure alerts are prompt, accurate, and reach the people who need them most.   

The generated flood data is also being stored for future use. This allows experts to analyse how often floods occur, which areas are most affected, and to identify long-term trends.   

The app is just one way Latvian authorities are lowering flood risks. Another is what’s called the Climate Change Adaptation Plan, a guideline that matches local priorities and challenges to EU-wide experiences with climate impacts. This helps planners to find new and better ways to tackle local problems. For example, instead of costly upgrades to drains and pumps, planners may turn to other countries’ experiences of restoring wetlands to manage flood risks.  

“It is clear that climate change will go on,” said Ingrīda Brēmere. “We will have to adapt also our climate change adaptation plan. Maybe there will come new measures, new needs to implement and this will go on. This is never ending story now.”