Government Introduces C-FLOOD Portal for Delivering Flood Warnings 48 Hours Ahead at Each Village Level
In a significant stride towards improving flood forecasting and disaster management, Union Minister Shri C.R. Patil launched C-FLOOD, India's first unified inundation forecasting system, on July 2, 2025, under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. This web-based platform provides two-day advance flood forecasts at the village level, aiming to enhance preparedness and mitigate flood risks in vulnerable regions.
### Coverage and Expansion Currently, C-FLOOD covers the Mahanadi, Godavari, and Tapi river basins. Plans are underway to expand the system’s coverage to more river basins in the future.
### Collaborative Development and Integration The platform is a collaborative development between the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, the Central Water Commission (CWC), and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC). It integrates flood modeling outputs from national and regional agencies, ensuring a comprehensive decision-support system for disaster management authorities. The initiative operates under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), jointly steered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
### Features and Technical Aspects C-FLOOD provides flood inundation maps and water level predictions at the village level with a lead time of up to 48 hours. It uses advanced 2D hydrodynamic modeling and high-performance computing infrastructure for accurate flood simulations. The Mahanadi basin simulations run on HPC infrastructure at C-DAC Pune, while Godavari and Tapi outputs are developed by NRSC under the National Hydrology Project (NHP).
### Plans for Expansion and Integration with NDEM The system is designed as a unified platform to be potentially integrated with other disaster management tools, such as the National Disaster Management Emergency Response Portal (NDEM). This integration aims to enable seamless disaster response coordination and improve early warning dissemination to stakeholders at all levels.
Union Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Patil urged improvements in accuracy using satellite validation and ground-truthing. He also reiterated the government's focus on proactive disaster management and praised the joint efforts of CWC, C-DAC, and NRSC in operationalising the C-FLOOD system. The Minister also called for rapid integration of flood forecasts into the National Disaster Management Emergency Response Portal (NDEM).
Active monsoon conditions are expected to persist across many regions of Northwest, Central, and East India in the coming days. With the launch of C-FLOOD, India is better equipped to manage potential flood risks and ensure the safety of its citizens.
- The launch of C-FLOOD, a unified inundation forecasting system, marks a significant step in environmental-science, as it aims to address climate-change impacts on flood risks.
- The development of C-FLOOD is a collaborative initiative between technology-driven institutions like the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), the Central Water Commission (CWC), and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).
- To enhance its capabilities, C-FLOOD data and cloud-computing resources are utilized, integrating with policy-and-legislation initiatives such as the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
- With plans to expand its coverage and potential integration with tools like the National Disaster Management Emergency Response Portal (NDEM), C-FLOOD has the potential to significantly impact general-news regarding flood forecasting and disaster management.
