From high waters forecasts to flooded areas forecasts

¹ Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, French National Flood Forecasting Service (SCHAPI), 42 avenue Coriolis, 31057 Toulouse Cedex 1, France
² DREAL Centre Val de Loire, FFC LCI – 5, Avenue Buffon, BP 6407, 45064 Orleans Cedex 2, France

^a Corresponding author: aurelie.escudier@developpement-durable.gouv.fr

Abstract

Flooded areas are key information to crisis managers, both at local and national level. They help sizing human and material resources to be deployed before and during a flood. These data already exist on several French rivers as they are been produced in a legislative framework but mainly addressing the hundred-year flood. The purpose of the Flood Forecasting Services is to complete water levels forecasting published on www.vigicrues.gouv.fr with forecasting information on spatial flooded areas. State services are developing new flooded areas ranging from first overflows to the hundred-year floods. A national database called VIGInond provides secure web services to access these new data. It was developed in 2015. A key step in the standardization of these new data is the collaboration between various state services. The access to VIGInond is initially opened to the Ministry of Interior services. This first step allows the operators to test and to understand the impacts of forthcoming flooding. Once tested, it will be made available to other crisis managers through the forthcoming Vigicrues® portal version 2. The new data will be gradually included in Vigicrues® watercourses, while coastal areas and new watercourses will be subsequently added. These new information will increase awareness of flooding risks among stakeholders and citizens in the near future.