Pre-Flood Warning System Based on User Mobility

The occurrence of flood causes millions of Ringgit in damages, along with the loss
of life and property, and the devastation of agricultural and livestock. Therefore, an
effective pre-flood warning system must be developed to mitigate flood losses and
lessen the flood effects. However, when developing a warning system for flood
disaster, limited communication during the occurrence of floods and the availability
of electricity supplies should be taken into account. Thus, this research project
proposes a conceptual framework with three (3) main stages: monitor water level,
alert flood victims on flood danger status and inform flood victims to relocate to the
nearest relief center. A system architecture has been designed for this research
project and a prototype system is developed. The prototype system is made up of a
medium sized aquarium tank, a hand pump, HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor, Arduino
UNO R3 and IComsat GSM shield. To validate the proposed prototype system, an
experiment with controlled water rising effect is conducted in a lab scale setup. The
results prove that the proposed prototype system is reliable as it is able to measure
water level accurately and broadcast warning SMS immediately to flood victims.
Thus, by having an effective real time pre-flood warning system, immediate action
can be carried out in order to save lives and minimize the damages caused by flood
disaster.