Development of a Real Time Flood Prediction Model for Rivers in Toyama Prefecture, Japan

Severe water-related disasters occur almost every year in Japan due to typhoons and frontal rains; these events often lead to evacuation problem. Many real time flood forecasting systems are available in Japan, but are designed to cover the whole of Japan, and are not calibrated to local cities or rivers. The main purpose of this study was to develop a real time flood prediction model that is suitable for use at the local community level. In this study, a physical rainfall-runoff and flood inundation model was developed to predict flood inundation situations in Toyama, Japan. According to the results of the analysis, there were significant differences between the results of the simulations using DEM resolutions of 90 and 5 m. However, it should be noted that the flood inundation simulations based on the 5 m DEM take too long for real time flood prediction.