Precipitation Forecast Modeling for Emergency Management Practitioners

When faced with an incident, emergency or hazard event, Emergency Management Practitioners must work collaboratively to secure the safety and security of the citizens within their jurisdiction. Mitigation, response, and recovery efforts for emergency management decision makers are a complex and difficult challenge when a natural disaster, civilian unrest or man-made event occurs. Decision makers require geographic intelligence to support a common operating picture which delivers accurate real-time data and communication across agencies. During the summer of 2008, Central Indiana received up to 20 inches of precipitation on saturated soil in a short period of time. The scientific community provided a variety of precipitation data which supported this event; however, it could not be viewed seamlessly within a common operating picture (COP). When an emergency event is imminent, decision makers need immediate results to provide answers for the required tasks at hand. There is no time to plan for a scenario when the scenario is occurring. Clear geographic situational awareness reduces communication complications by delivering data in the form of a digital map.