Antwerp police want to better predict flooding (Antwerp)
The Antwerp police zone is participating in a European project to be better prepared for a flood and its consequences. “In the event of an imminent flood, emergency services could be initiated to take appropriate measures.”
“No one can predict when a disaster will break out,” says Wouter Bruyns, of the Antwerp police zone. “Nevertheless, we want to map out as well as possible when a rising water level can have an impact on the habitability of selected zones, traffic flow and so on.”
In this way, the emergency services should be better able to take preventive measures and prepare the population. “But also to determine where the command post on the site is best positioned,” says Bruyns.
The project is collaborating by the European Union and the police with Vias institute, IMEC, Waterlink and KU Leuven, among others to develop a digital ‘twin’. That is a real-time virtual counterpart of a physical object or process. “The different ones play a key role in the play of the different scenarios that can arise during a flood and in providing the data and models,” explains Bruyns.
sare