Eastern African Countries Advance Urban Flood Forecasting
A three-day regional workshop on the Urban Flash Flood Forecasting System (UFFFS) was held in Kampala, Uganda on 23-25 March 2026 as part of the Water at the Heart of Climate Action (WHCA) project. The project, funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and supported by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), is being implemented in Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, and aims to accelerate and scale up action to mitigate the impacts of water-related risks and increase climate resilience of communities.
The UFFFS is designed to consider associated impacts related to flash flood hazards and provide impact-based warnings for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs). Once operationally available, the system will be integrated into the regional visualization platform, East Africa Hazard Watch. The methodology of UFFFS is based on a combination of satellite observations and a so-called PySTEPS nowcasting algorithm.
The workshop brought together more than 20 NMHS staff from across the five WHCA focus countries, and provided an opportunity for learning and knowledge sharing on existing hydro-meteorological monitoring, forecasting, and early warning services for urban floods.
During the workshop, which was led by WMO partners HKV and Deltares - hydro-meteorological forecasters gained practical experience on the UFFFS methodology using existing nowcasting and flood modelling products, and discussed requirements for local infrastructure data needed for system development.
Further, a methodology and framework were presented, and hands-on exercises carried out with existing nowcasting and impact-based forecasting products from other regions. Participants discussed the support needed from hydrological agencies in collecting local infrastructure data, as well as the next steps in the development of UFFFS products.
Through WHCA, WMO is supporting the implementation of the Early Warnings for All (EW4All) Initiative, taking the lead on activities that help countries enhance observations, monitoring, analysis and forecasting. These include the development of the multi hydrological model and impact-based forecasting (IBF) for riverine and urban/flash flood forecasting systems jointly with the NMHSs of the five participating countries. As part of this effort, the Urban Flash Flood Forecasting System (UFFFS) is being implemented in five pilot cities: Addis Abeba, Juba, Kampala, Kigali, and Khartoum.
- WMO Member:
- Uganda ,
- Ethiopia ,
- Rwanda ,
- South Sudan ,
- Sudan
- Region:
- Region I: Africa
