India has launched the C-FLOOD portal, a Unified Inundation Forecasting System designed to deliver flood forecasts up to 48 hours in advance at the village level. Developed through collaboration between the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, and the Central Water Commission (CWC) under the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD & GR), Ministry of Jal Shakti, the C-FLOOD platform was unveiled in a formal event held in New Delhi. The development and deployment of this system form part of a broader national strategy to enhance flood forecasting infrastructure.
The initiative is executed under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), which is jointly steered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). It is designed to strengthen the operational capacity of the existing flood management and disaster response framework in the country.
System Capabilities and Geographical Coverage
C-FLOOD is a web based portal that provides two day advance inundation forecasts in the form of flood inundation maps and water level predictions. These forecasts are generated at the village level, allowing for highly localized early warning dissemination. The platform serves as a unified system that integrates flood modelling outputs from both national and regional agencies, enabling a consolidated approach to flood risk assessment and disaster preparedness.
The system currently provides coverage for three major river basins: Mahanadi, Godavari and Tapi. For the Mahanadi Basin, simulations are executed using 2D hydrodynamic modelling tools that run on High Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure managed by C-DAC Pune under the National Supercomputing Mission. For the Godavari and Tapi Basins, the flood modelling outputs have been developed by the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) under the National Hydrology Project (NHP) and have been fully integrated into the portal.
The C-FLOOD platform is structured to evolve further, with plans to extend its scope to include additional river basins in the future, thereby expanding the reach of flood forecasting to more regions.
Policy Directives and Technical Implementation
The agencies responsible for the system have been directed to ensure wide scale dissemination of the portal to improve public awareness and preparedness at the community level. Instructions have been issued for the preparation of a comprehensive plan that will enable inundation studies to be conducted across all river basins. This is intended to standardize and scale the forecasting approach across varied geographies and hydrological contexts.
The C-FLOOD portal’s forecast outputs are to be integrated into the National Disaster Management Emergency Response Portal (NDEM) to ensure streamlined flow of information to disaster response agencies. To improve the accuracy and reliability of forecasts, the system is expected to incorporate satellite based validation techniques along with ground truthing methodologies. These enhancements are aimed at improving data fidelity and situational accuracy during flood events.
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Close coordination is to be maintained among all stakeholders involved in the system’s development and operations. This includes ongoing collaboration between modelling centres, data agencies and computing infrastructure providers to ensure the system is maintained, updated, and refined continuously in line with operational feedback and scientific advancements.
Institutional Collaboration and Strategic Direction
The C-FLOOD platform has been operationalised through the coordinated efforts of multiple institutions working under different ministries and departments. The development of this integrated flood forecasting dissemination system represents a collaborative approach to data driven disaster management.
The C-FLOOD portal is positioned as a decision support system that enables authorities to anticipate flood risks with greater accuracy and take preemptive actions at the local level. By enabling simulations that account for terrain, hydrology, and rainfall inputs, the system supports scenario planning and risk mitigation for flood prone areas.
Through the integration of multiple data sources and modelling outputs, the platform provides a scalable architecture that aligns with national goals for enhanced disaster resilience. With its emphasis on advance forecasting, interoperability and high resolution outputs, the C-FLOOD system marks a move towards a more coordinated and informed approach to flood risk management.