FloodCast is a pilot flood early-warning service, currently in beta, providing daily streamflow forecasts for river basins across Italy.

Implemented by CINECA using the FloodPROOFS modelling system, FloodCast uses daily forecast data from the DestinE Extremes Digital Twin to generate national-scale hydrological forecasts. Operating at a resolution of 500 m, FloodPROOFS produces forecasts for approximately 500 river sections across Italy.

Key features and workflow

• AI-based triggering: Uses an algorithm from DWD’s SynCast framework to detect critical precipitation thresholds.
• On-demand refinement: Automatically activates 1 km ICON forecasts initialised with Extremes DT data to rerun FloodPROOFS with higher-resolution input.
• Streamflow forecasts: Provides hourly streamflow predictions in NetCDF format (CF-1.8) for the covered Italian river network.
• Return-period hazard maps: Provides daily flood severity maps in GeoTIFF format.
• Interactive access: Enables users to visualise, inspect and download data via a web dashboard.

Tailored primarily for national and regional Civil Protection operators in Italy, FloodCast demonstrates the potential of digital twin capabilities to support flood risk monitoring.

Explore FloodCast here!