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New flood warning system for Scots
Scots in flood-prone areas are set to benefit from a high-tech alert system which will warn them by text or phone call when flooding is predicted.
From April 2011, people who have registered for the service will be able to choose how they want to be alerted and flood warnings will then be cascaded from a single system.
Following funding from the Scottish Government, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) awarded a five-year, multi-million pound contract to BT Business and software company HTK to help them deliver Floodline Warnings Direct.
The new service will enable Scotland’s emergency flooding management partners and the public to benefit from a system which will deliver better flood warnings and provide valuable extra time to take action.
Flood warnings are currently issued to the police and published on Floodline, an online and recorded message service, in a mainly manual process using phone and fax. However, the new service will mean that SEPA will be able to call on the latest geographic mapping technology to define specific flood areas, and actively send alerts to everyone who has registered in the highlighted area.
BT and HTK’s innovative system will involve the creation of a fully-managed, hosted multi-media platform for recording and automatically disseminating flood warnings throughout Scotland to partner organisations like the police, fire and rescue, local authorities and the public.
People will also be able to find flood information on the internet and via the phone through interactive voice response systems based on speech-recognition technology.
BT Business is providing the helpdesk and contractual framework for the solution, while HTK will provide the technology platform, called HTK Horizon. Running Horizon through a standard web browser, SEPA will be able to manage flood warnings and tailor their response to the level of threat and the specific target area.
BT and HTK are working closely with SEPA to develop and test the system in time for a full public launch in spring 2011.
Professor James Curran, SEPA’S director of science and strategy, said: “This is a significant investment in communications technology which has one purpose, to help people. Together we are building the Floodline Warnings Direct service, which will be at the heart of providing the people of Scotland, at home or in their businesses, with a better flood warning service to help them to take action and reduce the impact of flooding on their lives.”
EJ Cay, head of custom solutions at BT Business, said: “Flooding is a major threat to many communities in the UK and across the world. This initiative is a leading example of technology being used to ease the problems caused by extreme weather.”
