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. 2020 Mar 17;20(6):1667.
doi: 10.3390/s20061667.

Development of a Spatial Decision Support System for Real-Time Flood Early Warning in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon River Basin, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam

Hong T Nguyen  1 , Trung Q Duong  2 , Liem D Nguyen  3 , Tram Q N Vo  4 , Nhat T Tran  5 , Phuong D N Dang  4 , Long D Nguyen  6 , Cuong K Dang  7 , Loi K Nguyen  4
Affiliations

Development of a Spatial Decision Support System for Real-Time Flood Early Warning in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon River Basin, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam

Hong T Nguyen et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Vu Gia-Thu Bon (VGTB) river basin is an area where flash flood and heavy flood events occur frequently, negatively impacting the local community and socio-economic development of Quang Nam Province. In recent years, structural and non-structural solutions have been implemented to mitigate damages due to floods. However, under the impact of climate change, natural disasters continue to happen unpredictably day by day. It is, therefore, necessary to develop a spatial decision support system for real-time flood warnings in the VGTB river basin, which will support in ensuring the area's socio-economic development. The main purpose of this study is to develop an online flood warning system in real-time based on Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies, GIS, telecommunications, and modeling (Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System (HEC-RAS)) in order to support the local community in the vulnerable downstream areas in the event of heavy rainfall upstream. The structure of the designed system consists of these following components: (1) real-time hydro-meteorological monitoring network, (2) IoT communication infrastructure (Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), wireless networks), (3) database management system (bio-physical, socio-economic, hydro-meteorological, and inundation), (4) simulating and predicting model (SWAT, HEC-RAS), (5) automated simulating and predicting module, (6) flood warning module via short message service (SMS), (7) WebGIS, application for providing and managing hydro-meteorological and inundation data, and (8) users (citizens and government officers). The entire operating processes of the flood warning system (i.e., hydro-meteorological data collecting, transferring, updating, processing, running SWAT and HEC-RAS, visualizing) are automated. A complete flood warning system for the VGTB river basin has been developed as an outcome of this study, which enables the prediction of flood events 5 h in advance and with high accuracy of 80%.

Keywords: HEC–RAS; SWAT; automated flood warning system; decision support system; flood forecasting.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographic location of the Vu Gia-Thu Bon (VGTB) river basin [21] (reproduced with permission from Nguyen Kim Loi, Nguyen Duy Liem, Le Hoang Tu, Nguyen Thi Hong, Cao Duy Truong, Vo Ngoc Quynh Tram, Tran Thong Nhat, Tran Ngoc Anh, and Jaehak Jeong, Journal of Water and Climate Change; published by IWA Publishing, 2019).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flood warning system in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Meteorological stations network on the Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin [22] (reproduced with permission from Nguyen Thi Hong, Phan Thi Thanh Truc, Nguyen Duy Liem, and Nguyen Kim Loi, International Journal on Advanced Science Engineering Information Technology; published by Indonesian Society for Knowledge and Human Development, 2016).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Location of hydrological stations on the Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin [22] (reproduced with permission from Nguyen Thi Hong, Phan Thi Thanh Truc, Nguyen Duy Liem, and Nguyen Kim Loi, International Journal on Advanced Science Engineering Information Technology; published by Indonesian Society for Knowledge and Human Development, 2016).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Automated process of streamflow simulation in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Automated process of water level, flood depth simulation in the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System (HEC–RAS) model.
Figure 7
Figure 7
SWAT HEC–RAS module for real-time flood forecasting.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Automated SWAT and HEC–RAS module for real-time flood forecasting.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The calibration water discharge at the Nong Son hydrological station during 1995–2004.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The validation water discharge at the Nong Son hydrological station during 2005–2014.
Figure 11
Figure 11
The calibration water level at the Cau Lau hydrological station at the VGTB river basin during October 14–19, 2015 flood event.
Figure 12
Figure 12
The validation water level at the Cau Lau hydrological station in the VGTB river basin during October 31–November 7, 2016 flood event.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Location (left) and sample picture (right) of meteorological stations in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Location (left) and sample picture (right) of hydrological stations in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Simulated floodplain map in the lower of the VGTB river basin on November 3, 2016.
Figure 16
Figure 16
Operation process of household’s flood depth module.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Operation process of short message service (SMS) flood alert module.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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