ERICHA flash flood indicator

EFAS holds two flash flood indicators: ERIC and ERICHA. The ERICHA flash flood indicator shows for the whole of Europe an estimation on flash flood hazard for the next 5 hours based on precipitation radar nowcasting.

Short description on the methodology: Flash flood hazard level estimated from the European OPERA reflectivity composite. Estimation of the hazard level is based on the rainfall aggregated on the drainage network (defined with a resolution of 1km), which is used as the variable that characterizes the flash flood potential. The thresholds used for the different hazard levels depend on the regional climatic characteristics and the size of the catchment defined upstream of each point of the drainage network. The flash flood hazard level is updated every 15 mins in line with the rainfall accumulation (1h) layer. This product has been developed in the ERICHA project.

For more information on:
- OPERA: http://eumetnet.eu/activities/observations-programme/current-activities/opera/
- ERICHA project: http://ericha.eu/

This information is part of the operational suit of EFAS (www.efas.eu) and intends to provide EFAS partners with in-depth information at relevant key locations along affected European rivers to facilitate decision making.