Protecting Elblag city from floods with a monitoring and flood response system

Elblag city, in north-eastern Poland along the Elblag river basin near the river mouth to the Vistula Lagoon, is located in an area with unfavourable hydrological regime. It is threatened by floods caused by heavy rainfall and backflow from the Lagoon. To reduce potential losses caused by massive flood events, Elblag city authorities needed to implement a flood forecasting system to enable early warning for the citizens of Elblag.

Digital Terrain Model used to determine the elementary catchment areas – MIKE URBAN View in 3D. © DHI

The system that we developed is powered by a forecast of water level on the Vistula Lagoon from the High Resolution Operational Model for the Baltic (HIROMB) model, along with precipitation and temperature forecast. The HIROMB model is a high-resolution circulation model originally intended for the Baltic Sea, but is now also used in other regions. The water modelling was done using MIKE 11, MIKE URBAN and MIKE 21 software, which were linked through MIKE FLOOD to determine flood risk and facilitate flood forecasting. 

Read more about our project in this case story.

Telemetric station for hydrological and meteorological measurements. © DHI