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watch the assignment, Bushfire Alert app, brings flood alerts to its popular app Disaster awareness service. This is the second most widely listed type of disaster, after forest fires; It is available as a free update. If you have the app, let it track your location, and you happen to be near a flood zone, Watch Duty will send you a push notification with more information about the flood.
Non-profit Started in 2021 With a focus on California wildfires. The app has since expanded to cover the entire United States, using a mix of paid staff “messengers” and many volunteers who monitor emergency responder radio channels and translate that information about disaster areas for app users.
Duty to monitor a Critical resources During the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles last year, providing real-time information about fire movements that users have come to rely on. The following year, Watch Duty capitalized on this growing recognition and brought on thousands of new users and partnerships, including one with Amazon’s Circular cameras It allows people to share their Ring videos on Watch Duty in case there is a fire nearby.
Flood monitoring takes a different approach than tracking wildfires. Flood monitoring tends to be more straightforward, because water moves in more predictable ways. Barring a dam burst or other unexpected event, flood paths are easier to track.
“The difference between us and floods is that we get more warnings,” says John Mills, chief executive of Watch Duty. “Honestly, it’s a little easier in some ways.”
Ease of tracking and reporting does not mean that floods are less complex than fires. Information about floods comes from a variety of agencies in the United States, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Weather Service, the US Geological Survey, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The problem with this, Mills asserts, is that information from so many different sources makes it difficult for people to juggle everything and get a clear picture of what is of immediate concern in their neighborhood. What he wants to do with Watch Duty is distill that information and turn it into a sharper look.
Courtesy of Watch Duty
Courtesy of Watch Duty
“You’re being told to do something, but it’s too late,” Mills says. “It’s too little, and it doesn’t work. With Watch Duty, you can start pulling a bunch of information together on one screen to make an informed decision.”
Watch Duty won’t be able to provide more granular details, such as when each tree across the flood zone fell. Mills says floods in Watch Duty will be displayed more simply, with an emphasis on where floodplains and water levels are. Flood forecasts are based on buoys that detect rising water. Watch Duty now allows users to find the nearest buoy and set an alert for notifications when it reaches a high enough level that flooding may pose a threat.
Watch Duty has reported some flooding before, but those were one-off events. It has taken some time to fully integrate flooding into the service. Mills says having more disasters in Watch Duty was always the plan, but ensuring the feature worked was a challenge — especially during busy fire seasons.
