COLLEGE OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF NETWORKS

Masters of Science in Data Communication and Software Engineering

FLOODING MONITORING USING AN INTEGRATION TECHNIQUE OF
VISUALISATION TECHNOLOGY WITH THE DATA COMMUNICATION AND MOBILE
TECHNOLOGY
By
MBABAZI ESTER
1900725266
2019/HD05/25266U
E-mail: ester.mbabazi@gmail.com
Tel: +256 776804433/ +256 758804433
SUPERVISORS: 1.
2.

APRIL, 2021
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................1

1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................1

1.1 Background............................................................................................................................1

1.1.1 Historical background.....................................................................................................1

1.1.2 Theoretical background...................................................................................................3

1.1.3 Conceptual background...................................................................................................4

1.1.4 Contextual background....................................................................................................6

1.2 Problem statement..................................................................................................................7

1.3 Objectives of the study...........................................................................................................8

1.3.1 General objective.............................................................................................................8

1.3.2 Specific objectives...........................................................................................................8

1.4 Research questions.................................................................................................................9

1.5 Scope of the study..................................................................................................................9

1.5.1 Geographical scope.........................................................................................................9

1.5.2 Time scope......................................................................................................................9

1.5.3 Subject scope...................................................................................................................9

1.6 Purpose of the study.............................................................................................................10

1.7 Significance of the study......................................................................................................10

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................11

2.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................11

2.1 Overview of flood monitoring.............................................................................................11

2.2 Urban Flood Visual Sensing................................................................................................12

2.3 Wireless Sensor Networks...................................................................................................13

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 2.4 Flood monitoring techniques...............................................................................................15

2.4.1. Gauge Sensing..............................................................................................................15

2.4.2. Remote Sensing............................................................................................................16

2.4.3 Flood Risk Mapping......................................................................................................18

2.5 Flood Visual Sensing...........................................................................................................19

CHAPTER THREE: METHODS AND MATERIALS...........................................................21

3.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................21

3.1 Research approach...............................................................................................................21

3.2 Data collection.....................................................................................................................21

3.2.1 Flood Visual Sensing.....................................................................................................21

3.2.2 Detection of Runoff.......................................................................................................22

3.2.3 Monitoring Embankment Overflow..............................................................................22

3.3 Analysis................................................................................................................................23

REFERENCES............................................................................................................................24

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 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the background to the study that involves the historical, theoretical and

conceptual background to flooding- and monitoring systems. The chapter also presents the

problem statement, the objectives and research questions of the study, the scope and the

significance of the study.

1.1 Background

1.1.1 Historical background

Flood is the most widespread natural threat, accounting for 41% of all natural disasters

worldwide in the last decade, according to historical records(Arshad et al. 2019). There were

over 1566 floods worldwide from 2009 to 2019, affecting 0.754 billion people and resulting in

51,002 deaths and $371.8 billion in loss. In background, these figures only include “reported”

instances of large-scale flooding, which are often referred to as flood disasters(Lo et al. 2015). A

flood disaster is characterized as a flood that disrupts or interferes significantly with human and

social life, while a flood is defined as the presence of water in normally dry areas. If these figures

included other various small-scale floods in which less than ten people died, 100 or more people

were affected, or there was no declaration of a state of emergency or a call for international

assistance, the global effect of a flood would be much more troubling. Nonetheless, the current

situation necessitates more effective flood monitoring and response. Given the growing

uncertainty associated with climate change and the number of people living in flood-prone areas,

the significance of enhanced flood monitoring cannot be overstated(World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) 2013).

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In developing countries, the effects of flood are more harmful than in developed countries.

During 2010 China suffered a flood along the Yangtze River caused by heavy rain. In this flood

1100 people were killed, 120 million people were affected and direct economic losses were

nearly U$25 billion(Keoduangsine, Robert, and Stephen 2014). European countries have also

had large floods, but with less property and life loss. The large Asian losses were caused in part

by the lack of a flood warning system and poor information dissemination at the community

level. However, flood impact can be reduced by effective flood risk management and timely

dissemination of flood warnings to citizens. The events and factors that help to monitor flood

events are diverse, multifaceted, and interrelated. Weather factors include heavy or sustained

precipitation, snowmelts, or storm surges from cyclones whereas important human factors

include structural failures of dams and levies, alteration of absorptive land cover with impervious

surfaces and inadequate drainage systems(Kusky 2013).

In recent years, global demand for important information on flooding and flood monitoring

techniques has increased considerably. Time is vital during a disaster event in order to evacuate

vulnerable people at risk, minimize the socio-economic, ecologic and cultural impact of the

event and restore society to normal as soon as possible. Since time is limited, gathering

knowledge of the situation as quickly as possible is crucial to informed decision-making. Crises -

particularly those with little to no warning-generate a situation that is rife with questions,

uncertainties and the need to make quick decisions, often with minimal information.

IoT could help remedy inadequate emergency preparedness and planning, which in turn could

reduce the magnitude of the physical and human damage in such events. With IoT, decision-

makers can get a heightened awareness of real-time events, such as floods, from a large number

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of sensors that report on environmental conditions such as soil moisture, ocean currents, or

weather and the situation in and from infrastructures(WMO; and ICIMOD 2014).

1.1.2 Theoretical background

Floods can be forecast using complete rainfall-runoff models or using routing models. The

literature on flood forecasting is full of examples of both types of models being used successfully

for flood warning purposes. Usually, routing methods-based flood forecasting models are

simpler and less data-intensive. Broad classifications of various flood forecasting model types

falling under rainfall runoff models along with methods relying only on the routing to

downstream of an observed wave(Okaka 2019).

Rainfall–runoff models are designed to produce the required flood forecasts from meteorological

and other data, so the choice of model, as well as the estimation of Quantitative Precipitation

Forecasts (QPFs) over the forecast lead times, is crucial. Rainfall-runoff models can be classified

broadly as black box models (e.g., stage regression), lumped parameter models (e.g.,

Sacramento), and spatially distributed models (e.g., TOPMODEL). However, the ‘one size fits

all’ approach to catchment modelling and forecasting does not work(Kusky 2013).

It is essential to understand the causes of flooding in any given catchment or river basin while

developing flood forecasting models. The size, shape and topographical structure of the

catchment control the basic response to the key driver of flooding, which is the input of

precipitation. Land use, geology, soils and vegetation affect the speed of response of the

catchment to rainfall, and the losses to soil and deeper recharge are also major features of flood

response. The nature of the precipitation causing flooding needs to be fully understood in the

context both of events and of seasonal climatology(Van Ackere et al. 2019). Different types of

precipitation cause varying responses in a given catchment, and the relative importance of the
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impact of different types of events needs to be evaluated in order to define the most appropriate

approach to developing flood warning. Under these conditions, modern techniques of remote-

sensing can prove more useful than conventional instrumentation. It may be possible to use

satellite or radar-based monitoring to observe rainfall. River conditions need to be observed at

suitable places for locations at risk, but it is imperative that these observations provide adequate

lead time, since the high speed of flooding is also a common feature in arid and semi-arid

regions(OPM, 2000)

The study will be based on Data-driven models: these are generally simple and easy to calibrate,

but many end-users fear that the models may be unreliable beyond the range of the historical data

on which they are based(Arshad et al. 2019). They should be used where: (a) the predict and,

namely the quantity of interest to be forecast, is at a gauged river section (extension of their use

to ungauged cross sections is practically impossible); (b) relatively long data time series are

available that encompass most of the range of variability over time of the predict and; (c) the

required forecasting span is relatively short compared with the concentration time of the

catchment to the cross section of interest(Priyadarshinee, Sahoo, and Mallick 2015).

1.1.3 Conceptual background

Floods are among the most frequently-occurring and deadly of natural phenomena, affecting an

average 520 million people a year. In recent decades, almost half the people killed as a result of

natural disasters have been victims of floods, which also account for about one-third of economic

losses from these disasters worldwide. Nonetheless, floods are also often part of nature’s pattern:

they carry nutrients that fertilize flood plains, and these plains are the spawning ground for many

species of fish. The problem is to reduce human vulnerability to the negative effects of flooding

while maintaining its helpful effects on the environment. Flood risk is increasing over time as a

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result of population pressure in flood-prone areas, and the value of properties and infrastructure

in these areas is increasing as well. Other risk drivers include climate change and variability, so

policy makers need to examine how their decision making has to change in light of changing risk

profiles. Information about existing models for accounting for climate change at different scales

needs to be central to all decision making, along with understanding the uncertainties associated

with those models(Namanya 2009).

Owing to their increasing incidence and severity, floods are expected to be a continuous threat in

most cities worldwide. Nowadays, flood warning systems are being widely used for monitoring

and forecasting flood disasters and water resources. However, one-dimensional measurement

data of the water level and stream flow from gauge stations are insufficient for representing

actual runoff-land interactions(Okaka 2019). Moreover, existing flood risk models have low

specificity and are insufficient for the analysis of small districts. Furthermore, decision-makers

cannot obtain sufficient visual field information for disaster control and hazard reduction(Kusky

2013). Currently, owing to large-scale urbanization, approximately 50% of the world’s

population lives in crowded cities(IFRC 2014). However, the concentrated populations and

economic activities of urban areas may also make them more vulnerable to the impact of floods

on account of increased difficulties in evacuation and sheltering procedures. Thus, to assist

decision-makers in analyzing a situation for public disaster warning or hazard reduction actions,

the real-time visual monitoring of urban flood events is a very important tool.

Water level control is important in early warning systems, and computer vision has proved to be

helpful (Basha, Ravela, & Rus, 2008). In computer vision, image filtration is important for

estimating water levels. The differencing image technique, for example, was proposed by Yu et

al. (2010) to monitor and detect small changes in water level. The difference method works by

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analyzing the region of interest (ROI) between the previous and current frames and then using

the Otsu threshold method to output a water level. Another research used a physical measuring

ruler in conjunction with various computer vision computational models, such as the differencing

process, dictionary learning, and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) (Arshad et al. 2019).

In this paper, based on the needs of decision-makers for flood control in Uganda especially

Kasese town, we propose the use of a visual sensing technique based on network cameras for

hydrological management to realize intelligent surveillance and warning of river overflows(Van

Ackere et al. 2019). As a sensing system for urban intelligent flood control and disaster

reduction, this tool provides flood warnings and real-time information to disaster relief sectors

for disaster reduction actions (Mousa, Zhang & Claudel, 2016).

1.1.4 Contextual background

In the recent past, frequent heavy rains had often occurred in Kasese district and caused many

local rivers like Nyamwamba and Mobuku to burst their banks which caused heavy floods in

almost all nine sub counties of the district(IFRC 2014). Many people died and several thousands

were displaced as a consequence of one of the floods. In addition, the livelihoods and

infrastructure were destroyed, especially around the Kilembe copper mines. Furthermore, several

bridges and houses were destroyed by the fast running water and boulders from the rivers

Nyamwamba and Mobuku. However, the Northern Uganda region’s district of Adjumani

experienced adverse effects of climate change impacts: landslides, hail storms, heavy lightning

incidences, increased accumulation of nitro oxide in the atmosphere, prolonged droughts,

proliferation of new animal and plant diseases, insects attacks on plants like shrubs or trees, and

sudden downpours of unpredictable heavy rains(Kusky 2013). A community communication

strategy was being adopted to promote climate information services in the district. Heavy

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flooding usually paralyses most socio-economic development activities across the entire local

government district administration services (Adjei-Darko, 2017).

1.2 Problem statement

The adverse impacts of climate change are a major challenge to socio-economic development

globally(MWE, 2015). At present, climate change is considered as an important phenomenon

Citation. The flooding from sea level rise due to climate change will cost around one trillion

USD per year for coastal cities alone by 2050(Okaka, 2019). Flood is considered as the most

catastrophic among the natural disasters, such as volcanic eruption, earthquake, and tsunami

Citation. Floods are the leading cause of natural disaster deaths worldwide and were responsible

for 6.8 million deaths in the 20th century. The Uganda Meteorological Department reported

above normal heavy rains that affected the whole country for many weeks in the year 2019

Citation. The worst affected areas in the Northern and Eastern parts of Uganda. Besides, up to 40

people died of mudslides and floods when heavy rains affected homes in six Bududa district

villages, Eastern Uganda(Okaka 2019). The government of Uganda has developed and adopted

the flood disaster mechanisms and strategies across different strata of the vulnerable local

communities at flooded rural, peri-urban, and urban areas(MWE 2015). The positive coping

strategies used to deal with landslides and floods in Uganda include; adoption of good farming

methods, support from government and other partners, livelihood diversification and using

indigenous knowledge in weather forecasting and preparedness. Studies have identified

relocation as unsustainable because people often returned back to high risk areas. The key

underlying causes of vulnerability include; poverty, population pressure making people move to

high risk areas, unsatisfactory knowledge on disaster preparedness and, cultural beliefs affecting

people’s ability to cope (Priyadarshinee, Sahoo, and Mallick 2015). The continued flooding of

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most rivers most especially river Nyamwamba in Kasese has greatly affected the national

economy and the people of Kasese as a whole(MWE 2015). The continued flooding of Kasese

has rendered several economic or financial constraints for the population. Increased poverty,

increased spared of diseases, and homelessness, among many problems have been registered as a

result of flooding(IFRC 2014). Therefore, the accurate prediction of flooding draws significant

attention to save human lives, to protect infrastructure, and to reduce economic loss.

Various studies have been carried out related to the prediction of flood. Seal et al. (2009) and

Bopi et al. (2016) proposed flood prediction models based on Linear Regression. However, the

dataset with multiple types of data are hierarchical in nature and hence, they are non-linear.

Therefore, Linear Regression model is not appropriate in this context. Arshad et al. (2017) used

one of the popular learning techniques, named Support Vector Machine (SVM), for predicting

the flood water level. However, Linear Regression and the SVM method both failed to address

uncertainty in data as they do not have any mechanism to address uncertainty(Van Ackere et al.

2019). Limited research has been conducted on the applicability of visual sensing in the

monitoring of floods in Uganda. This study therefore seeks to establish the reliability of visual

sensing method in predicting the possibility of flooding with focus on Kasese district.

1.3 Objectives of the study

1.3.1 General objective

This study aims at assessing flooding/flood monitoring using an integration technique of visual

sensor technology with the data communication and mobile technology

1.3.2 Specific objectives

 To establish the effectiveness of a visual sensing system in monitoring floods

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  To develop an easily accessible flood monitoring expert system considering the

uncertainty of data

1.4 Research questions

Therefore, the research questions of this thesis will focus on accurately monitoring floods using

the data collected by the sensors. The following research questions will be used in thus study;

• How can a visual sensing system be utilized to assist in early warnings for urban floods?

• How to develop an easily accessible flood monitoring expert system in times of

uncertainty?

1.5 Scope of the study

The scope is explained based on the geographical, time and subject aspects of the study

1.5.1 Geographical scope

The study will focus on Kasese district located in Western Uganda. It is bordered by Kabarole

District to the north, Kamwenge District to the east, Rubirizi District to the south, and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Kasese district has in continued to experience

floods most especially around river Nyamwamba and these have had disastrous consequences to

the people of Kasese. Therefore, this study area presets the best opportunity to understand the

concept of flooding and flood monitoring systems or techniques.

1.5.2 Time scope

The study will be conducted based on the existing literature of the past 10 years (2011 to 2021). This

time period has been selected since it presents the most recent events concerning flooding and

flooding monitoring techniques, hence could help to effectively meet the aim or objective of the

current study.

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1.5.3 Subject scope

This study focuses on flooding or flood monitoring using an integration technique of visual

sensor technology with the data communication and mobile technology.

1.6 Purpose of the study

The objective of this study is to find a flood monitoring system using an integration technique of

visual sensor technology with the data communication and mobile technology that is reliable in

monitoring floods so as to avoid the negative consequences that come with it. By predicting and

monitoring floods earlier human life can be saved, and economic loss can be prevented(WMO;

and ICIMOD 2014). The data need to be coming from the sensors uninterrupted and free of

erroneous and anomalous data. The monitoring system needs to be accessible and usable for

users without hindrance. Furthermore, the accurate prediction of the floods is required

considering different types of uncertainty embedded in the collected data.

1.7 Significance of the study

The current study will contribute to the existing knowledge concerning assessment of flooding or

flood monitoring, and the different flood warning systems or techniques in developing countries.

The study will further help to understand the different issues associated with disaster warnings,

and consequently proposes an appropriate flood monitoring system that is suitable developing

countries such as Uganda.

The study will also act as a reference for future research in a similar or related area of study. In

this case different scholars intending to conduct research on flooding and flood monitoring

systems in the future may rely in the findings of the current study to clearly understand the

research subject.

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 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction

This chapter presents a review of literature about flooding monitoring and the different

techniques used in the monitoring or predication of floods, most especially in developing

countries like Uganda

2.1 Overview of flood monitoring

Flood monitoring is done by developing numerical models based on rainfall and river water-level

data(Keoduangsine, Robert, and Stephen, 2014). The use of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs)

technologies enables easy data collection from a large area to facilitate the prediction of flood

with higher accuracy and reliability. Nowadays sensors are easily deployable due to the

standardization of WSN technologies as well as development of cost-effective and low-powered

sensor devices. These sensors use new technologies, like 6LOWPAN and IEEE802.15.4 to

communicate over the Internet among them. Hence, these sensors open a new paradigm of

communication, known as Internet of Things (IoTs) (Islam, 2017). In addition to flood

prediction, IoT is widely used in different scenarios, like smart homes, home automation, smart

grids, and smart cities to develop different intelligent applications, enabling human beings to

make appropriate decisions. However, to predict flood, sensors need to be deployed in harsh

environments. Therefore, a resilient WSN is required to collect data from the nature and to send

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that to a server for predicting flood. The data collected by the sensors may be erroneous and

duplicate because of the presence of inconsistency, resulting from resource constraints

(Derakhshan & Yousefi, 2019).

Moreover, the sensor devices are vulnerable to malicious attacks, which could also be considered

as the source of erroneous data. Therefore, the presence of duplicate, inconsistent, noisy,

incorrect, and inaccurate data are the sources of various types of uncertainty, including

incompleteness, ignorance, vagueness, imprecision, and ambiguity (Islam, 2017). The presence

of uncertainty with the sensor data, resulting from the factors mentioned above, may cause an

anomaly in the sensor data. Hence, the data becomes unreliable for predicting flood. Therefore, a

method is required, capable of addressing different types of uncertainty, for filtering out this

anomalous data before feeding it to any system for predicting flood. Usually, expert systems are

helpful where the events under investigation change rapidly and their prediction cannot be made

in advance. Flooding can be considered as an example of such event, which has the highest

capability to bring sufferings to the human beings (Sunkpho & Ootamakorn, 2011).

Usually, meteorological, topographical, geological, river characteristics, and human activities are

considered as the major factors of flooding in an area. The measurement of these factors involves

various types of data, which are required to predict flooding. This data mainly consists of rainfall

amount and its duration, velocity of river flow, river water level, slope, aspect, catchment area,

and human activities. Some of these data types are quantitative and others are qualitative in

nature. In addition this data are associated with various types of uncertainty (Islam, 2017). As for

example, rainfall amount can be considered as quantitative, while human activities is qualitative.

Therefore, an integrated framework is necessary with the capability of processing both

quantitative and qualitative data, enabling the accurate prediction of flood. This data can be

12
collected by using different sources such as sensors, by interviewing people, by using historical

records, and by doing literature reviews. Sensors are usually used to collect data, such as rainfall,

river water level, and river water flow.

2.2 Urban Flood Visual Sensing

In a modernized smart city, information and communication technology (ICT) has been widely

applied in areas such as transportation management, communication, resource management, and

instrument information (Sunkpho, & Ootamakorn, 2011). Technologies such as cyber-

surveillance and sensor networks are also commonly employed in a variety of intelligent

applications. In addition to long-term water management, the hydrological management of a

smart city includes key components, such as short-term emergency flood alarm and disaster

reduction activities, which are decided by the departments of disaster prevention and

hydrological management. One of the most important steps in the flood alarm system is the

process of providing accurate and concise field information to the decision-makers through ICT.

For water resource management and maintenance, monitoring systems have been used in

important river zones to enhance the surveillance initially performed by humans. This provides

continual monitoring while greatly reducing human resource consumption. However, all real-

time monitoring images currently still require a one-by-one manned check to determine the

occurrence of river overflow after being sent to the central system. Therefore, this system does

not function for intelligent early warnings (Sunkpho, & Ootamakorn, 2011).

2.3 Wireless Sensor Networks

Previously, various studies have been carried out to predict flooding using different WSNs.

Sakib et al. (2014) proposed a flood alert system based on neuro-fuzzy controller using WSN,

where IEEE 802.15.4 protocol was used. In this system, the sensor was used to collect data and

13
the Raspberry PI used as gateway to send the sensor data to the central server. The flood alerts

were generated using both historical and sensor data by employing neurofuzzy controller method

in the central server. GIS maps were used to illustrate the flood alerts in the area (Jiang, &

Claudel, 2017).

Mitra et al. (2015) proposed a flood forecasting system by using WSN. The proposed system

used ZigBee for the WSN while Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used to support

forecasting of flooding in the river basin. The WSN has been based on mesh topology of ZigBee

to provide alternative routes to the sensor nodes. Proposed network architecture uses GPRS for

transmitting data to the central server. However, GPRS connectivity might not be available in

remote locations, which might hinder the connectivity. Moreover, the sensor nodes were built

using MSP430 that was the comparatively costly device, and ZigBee is a proprietary protocol,

which impedes the interoperability (Adjei-Darko, 2017).

Han et al. (2008) proposed a hydrology monitoring system using ZigBee technology with a star

topology. Authors suggested using ZigBee for communication among sensors and GPRS

technology for transmitting data to receiving center. However, any flood prediction mechanism

was not presented in their study. Ancona et al. (2009) described a flood monitoring system with

energy efficient sensors for measuring the amount of rainfall and river gauges. They took into

consideration of the new IoT paradigm, like cloud computing and data streaming.

Seal et al. (2019) presented a real-time flood-forecasting model. The main features of the

proposed system were the fast prediction of flood and cost-effective implementation of the

system. Water level, Rainfall, and discharge were considered as parameters for forecasting flood.

The system also filtered out the anomaly from sensors data. Furthermore, a wireless sensor

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network consisting of sensor nodes, intermediate nodes, computational nodes, and a monitoring

node was proposed by Seal et al. (2011).

Khedo (2017) also proposed a system, named real-time flood monitoring system (RTFMS), for

real-time monitoring of the hydrological conditions of rivers for flood forecasting using WSNs.

The system monitored water level, water flow, and rainfall, in the region of the Rivi`ere du

Rempart of Mauritius. Twenty-Two sensors were deployed along two kilo meters of the river.

These sensors were divided into three clusters that are connected to a gateway. The sensors

communicated using IEEE 802.15.4. The gateway node receives all the data from the deployed

sensors, and acts as a data-logger and transmits sensor readings back to the Central Monitoring

Office (CMO) using GSM network. Each mote sensor transmits data to the gateway in a multi-

hop fashion at an interval of fifteen minutes, which is the maximum sampling frequency.

RTFMS uses Grid-to-Grid model to predict flood. In this study, author did not consider different

types of backhaul connectivity for the uninterrupted communication of data. The above-

mentioned research presented different WSN architectures using Adhoc WSN network, ZigBee,

and IEEE 802.15.4. They had not mentioned about any application layer protocols. Furthermore,

there is a lack of reliable black haul connectivity between gateway and main server. The above-

mentioned WSNs architectures are more interested on the reliable communication among

sensors (Derakhshan & Yousefi, 2019).

2.4 Flood monitoring techniques

2.4.1. Gauge Sensing

An urban flood hazard occurs because the surface runoff caused by heavy rainfall cannot be

relieved in a timely manner. This hazard involves various aspects, including structural erosion;

building damage; water pollution; interruption of social and economic activities, transportation

15
systems, and communication networks; and loss of life and property. Climate change includes

extreme weather patterns, leading to an increased frequency of flood hazards. Among all natural

disasters, flood hazards are the most serious in terms of the number of people impacted and the

deaths caused. Therefore, studies on flood hazards have attracted significant attention in some

scientific fields, such as those focusing on water resources and natural disasters. Currently,

dynamic flood monitoring has been extensively used in flood warning systems. Such systems

mainly obtain data from a number of gauge stations, such as water level measurement stations,

precipitation stations, and meteorological radar stations in catchment areas. The data are mainly

those of water-level fluctuation and the amount and precipitation distribution. In addition to their

use in real-time flood monitoring, these data can also be applied to forecast future water-level

fluctuations. The flood warning system monitors hydrological variables as well as their time

derivatives to provide disaster prevention sectors with advance flood information for flood

management and relevant disaster reduction actions. In this way, the flood impact can be

mitigated as much as possible (Jiang & Claudel, 2017).

When a flood event occurs, the simplified water level, precipitation data, and observational

evidence as well as streamflow models are available for disaster prevention sectors to determine

disaster reduction actions accordingly. However, the water level data contains only one spatial

dimension, a point-based view of the water surface that cannot accurately represent the actual

runoff-land interactions such as the spatial dynamics of the surface water extent. Moreover,

whether monitored precipitation would cause a regional flood mainly depends on whether the

regional runoff water can be discharged in a timely manner. For example, in an urban

environment, the surface runoff water is collectively discharged to the sewer or a neighboring

river. Short heavy rain might be enough to cause a rapid raise in a small river’s water level and

16
lead to overflow or even a flood disaster. Therefore, the real-time field images of water levels,

bank overflows, and the features of the surrounding ground surface and buildings in the runoff,

in combination with data from precipitation and water level records, will be more helpful to

disaster-relieving operations (Derakhshan & Yousefi, 2019).

2.4.2. Remote Sensing

In addition to data collection from gauge stations, remote sensing technologies such as optical

imagery and radar imagery are also widely used for measuring the wide-area water level and

scope for defining a flooded area. Remote altimetry technology can be used to continuously

measure the water level variation within a large area and can thus be used to extensively monitor

an entire flood event. Another advantage of this technology is that it remotely acquires data of

absolute water elevations, which is helpful for the integration of flood management and for

environmental science research. Comparatively speaking, gauge-based ground monitoring is

limited by station distribution and numbers, which may result in uneven coverage of a

floodplain. Moreover, the measured water level is a relative level, and it needs to be standardized

before comprehensive data pooling among different stations can be performed. Currently, remote

sensing images of water levels show decimeter-level measurement accuracy, and the

transmission is almost real-time in nature (Islam, 2017).

Recent advances in Earth Observation (EO) are improving the capability of detecting flooded

zones in urban areas via high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Additionally, a digital

elevation model (DEM) created using an X-band sensor is widely used for flood prediction and

monitoring. A satellite can transmit short-wavelength microwaves to acquire data throughout the

day regardless of the weather conditions. This, along with the increasing computational power, is

facilitating the real-time integration of SAR-derived water levels with operational flood forecast

17
models via data assimilation (DA) techniques. The sensor observations are integrated with the

model by DA techniques to obtain a 3D description of the flood for a forecast as well as for the

flood warning systems. Furthermore, the remotely measured water level data still need to be

verified to ensure accuracy using ground measurement data. Owing to the restriction of orbital

cycles and inter-track spacing of satellite movements, the limitation of remote measurement data

in continuous monitoring and the observation of fixed points is another key problem. Thus, it is

difficult to use remote sensing technology for long-term and near-real-time water level

measurement at fixed points in small rivers in urban areas. Therefore, regardless of its real-time

monitoring capability and high accuracy, remote sensing technology is not well-suited for urban

flood prediction in terms of cost and timeliness.

2.4.3 Flood Risk Mapping

Model analysis has been widely applied in studies on flood risk. In this type of analysis,

hydrological data such as water level and precipitation from monitoring stations is combined

with remote measurement images and geographic models to analyze and simulate flood events.

In this way, this analysis derives risk information from a probabilistic viewpoint, which can be

assessed with regard to various scenarios such as potential flood depth and coverage within a

certain geographic area, and it provides flood risk assessment and risk mapping to identify zones

that are vulnerable to flooding in advance. For flood management and policy implementation, the

advance acquisition of flood risk assessment information, such as the flooding probability,

degree, location, and height, enables the government to implement disaster management

practices in advance. Furthermore, results from the flood model analysis can be used for disaster

reduction. For example, for urban flood relief, these results can be considered and used for the

determination of settings and operational regimens of flood discharge valves and pump stations.

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On account of the possible geomorphological alteration caused by changes to buildings or

streets, or the construction of new ones, the model must be periodically updated for urban flood

risk mapping. Nevertheless, risk mapping is used for large-scale risk assessment, which is not

specific or conducted in real time for urban local-scale assessment. In addition, it is difficult to

verify the analysis results with the actual runoff status of the streets (Islam, 2017).

2.5 Flood Visual Sensing

In situ gauge measurement is the most basic and extensively used means for obtaining

hydrological information. Although this measurement can quantitate flow dynamics, such as

river flood discharge or overflow, it lacks dynamic information regarding the actual spatial

change in runoff, such as floodplain flow and bank overflow. In most places where conditions

are not suitable or funds are lacking to build a gauge station, CCTV monitoring is used as an

alternative solution. Furthermore, because it is difficult for decision-makers to clearly understand

the field flood situation based on these measurement data, the decisions made might inevitably

be unsuitable in the actual situation. Although the use of remote sensing images can overcome

the in situ gauge measurement’s disadvantage of incomprehensive flood monitoring and can

reach decimeter-level accuracy for water level measurement, it cannot realize long-term

continual monitoring of urban small-scale flood events and accurately measure the water level

changes in small rivers (Phonrattanasak, Deepang, & Durongdumrongchai, 2017).

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) has been widely used in river monitoring, water level

measurement, and flood modeling and flood emergency management, which employ remote

video surveillance images to obtain dynamic field information of streamflow or continuously

filmed images to analyze the surface stream velocity of water. The detection of the water body

using seed-guided graph-based image segmentation and the details of the algorithm (Lo et al.,

19
2015). The image segmentation technique is currently widely used in various fields of science

and engineering. It can roughly be divided into boundary-based, graph-based, and statistical-

based methods. The goal of an image segmentation technique is that it groups pixels as multiple

segments that represent the visual perception meaning from an image. The pixels within a

segment have similar properties such as color and texture. This is typically used to identify

objects or other relevant information in digital images. Therefore, real-time images provide more

useful dynamic field information to support improved decisions from disaster management

agencies in optimizing their emergency responses (Lo et al., 2015).

In this paper, we propose a visual sensing application for real-time image-based monitoring of

flood fluctuations in small urban riverine areas. The sensed data, including visual data, are used

for supporting decision-making for disaster reduction. A camera can obtain real-time field

images of runoffs and automatically analyze the field water level situation. Therefore, the

proposed visual sensing application can be used for flood detection and provide data regarding

water level changes, which will help disaster management agencies to rapidly and accurately

understand the flood situation and initiate disaster reduction actions accordingly (Lo et al., 2015).

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 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS AND MATERIALS

3.0 Introduction

This chapter describes the different methods and materials that will be used in data collection,

sampling, and analysis of the data collected this study.

3.1 Research approach

The main software modules of the flood visual sensing system will cut across; an event-based

triggered visual sensing system for determining image quality and verifying the existence of a

waterbody; detection of the runoff for determining the water body region using an image

segmentation method; and calculation of runoff fluctuation for analyzing the flood risk degree

using waterbody region data based on a preset virtual marker or the scales of on site water-level

rulers.

3.2 Data collection

3.2.1 Flood Visual Sensing

Both on-site remote monitoring cameras will be placed at least tens to hundreds of meters away

from the watercourse. The majority of them will be positioned higher up behind the riverbank to

maximize their chances of survival during disasters while also ensuring that the cameras' field of

view covers the entire monitored scene. Every site's monitoring images will be compressed in

JPEG format with a resolution of 264 x 168 pixels (CIF). Each camera station will be pre-

programmed with a virtual seed and several virtual markers before the initial visual sensing

process. The seed is used to analyze the surface texture of water flow and guide image

21
segmentation, while virtual markers are used to indicate the boundary of a real space (for

example, marking over the length of a water-level ruler on the bridge pier or the surface of a

riverbank). The number, proportion, and sequence of virtual markers protected by the water flow

will be used to determine the runoff's flood risk. During the visual sensing work, the FOV

parameters of the cameras will be registered and tested. If the parameters do not meet the

specifications, the cameras should be reset to the default FOV parameters to ensure that photos

and virtual markers have the same FOV in the visual sensing process.

3.2.2 Detection of Runoff

After confirming the image quality and existence of floods, the runoff region in the image is

separated using seed-guided graph-based image segmentation. The runoff area in the image is

segregated using seed-guided graph-based image segmentation after the image quality and

flooding are verified. The following are the specific techniques used in this report. Using the

graph-based segmentation process, the image is first subdivided into multiple independent

segments. Under the guidance of the seed point, the independent section containing the floods is

then established. The difficulty of identification and the risk of false detection are greatly

reduced because the texture of the water body has already been confirmed. Furthermore, since

graph-based segmentation distinguishes image segments based on strong visually perceived

characteristics, this approach is extremely robust for images with light attenuation and noise,

even when rain and mist are present.

3.2.3 Monitoring Embankment Overflow

Image monitoring will be applied to monitor embankment overflow in this real-life case. During

this event, visual sensing will be applied to acquire nearly real-time water level information,

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including analysis results of the runoff range from the monitoring images, extent of river water

approaching the embankment, and time series fluctuation data.

3.3 Analysis

Algorithm Visualization will be utilized as the analysis technique and this is concerned with the

use of images to convey some useful information about algorithms. Modeling Visualization

Algorithms are often used to reveal internal details of a data set in order to discover where

interesting regions exist. The analysis will be conducted using MATLAB software.

23
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