flooding Archives - News@91��ɫ

Remembering the Toronto flood of 2013

egamulin — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 21:22:50 +0000

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Flood and wildfire management, evacuation in a pandemic

roshanp — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 13:35:53 +0000

TORONTO, Tuesday April 28, 2020 – As Canada heads into flood and wildfire season, how does the current situation with COVID-19 stretch resources to effectively plan for and manage these potential disasters, as well as react and organize evacuations if necessary?

Three professors from the Disaster & Emergency Management (DEM) Program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies are available to discuss how dealing with a pandemic could affect efforts to manage a disaster or emergency and what can be done.

Associate Professor says early warning systems and the use of prediction modelling could help with advanced planning and management. She emphasizes the necessity for coordination of efforts of various stakeholders from local, provincial and federal levels if necessary, including the health-care system, disaster management organizations, community organizations and subject matter experts.

In Alberta, the Athabasca River in Fort McMurray is currently ice-jammed, and due to the concern of flooding, gas is being shut off to Grayling Terrace. The heat or hot water will not be available for residents if they do not evacuate. With the evacuation order in place, physical distancing and the risk of contracting the coronavirus will be challenging for the emergency management professionals to navigate. Similar concerns are around northern communities in Ontario that are evacuated annually due to floods.

Complexities due to COVID-19 include potential flooding in places like the Toronto Islands as Lake Ontario levels rise. “Frequent and prolonged floods cause water-borne diseases that can have devasting compounding effects with COVID-19, which is known for diarrhea and nausea,” says Agrawal.

Assistant Professor can talk about how wildfire management strategies need to be adapted as a result of COVID-19 and how agencies are preparing for these overlapping disasters given the active wildfire season forecasted. Firefighting often involves a lot of people working together in close quarters, which is a difficult model given constraints under the pandemic.

“Wildfire management agencies are preparing for a unique wildfire season,” says Kennedy. “Many of the normal strategies - from operational headquarters to tents in the field - need to be considered in light of the pandemic.”

Assistant Professor can discuss evacuations, in which communities are relocated to a host community. The current public health measures will make management of evacuations, especially those on of a large scale, particularly challenging. Whether it’s transportation that respects physical distancing or the effective management of evacuation centres and group lodging facilities in a way that limits the potential spread of disease, adherence to current guidelines will be difficult.

At the same time, options such as staying with friends or family may not be possible due to restrictions.

Mamuji says emergency managers and social services need to plan ahead for those communities most at risk of flooding or wildfires. They should be creative in terms of lodging, realize that personal protective equipment for evacuees will be needed, and ensure that additional supports are available.

“It’s important to have mental health supports available as the stress of compounded disasters is unimaginable,” says Mamuji.

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91��ɫ champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-272-6317, sandramc@yorku.ca

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91��ɫ U engineering research uses AI to predict flood risk in real-time

roshanp — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 14:51:23 +0000

Research models use data from Toronto’s Don River and Calgary’s Bow River

TORONTO, November 11, 2019��– Using complex models based on artificial intelligence (AI) and data from the Don River in Toronto and Bow River in Calgary, researchers at the Lassonde School of Engineering can now predict the water levels in rivers days in advance of floods.

“We’ve created methods to predict real-time flood risk,” says Usman T. Khan, professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at 91��ɫ’s Lassonde School of Engineering.�� “These results outline an approach that can be used to create models with higher accuracy and lower data requirements, which translates to improved flood early warning systems. Early warning systems are considered the most effective way to mitigate flood induced hazards.”

The study, led by Khan, was published today in the It used four models to predict water levels, including two developed specifically for this research. The two new models improved the characterization and objectivity of water level estimates and recommended a new approach for determining the optimum number of model input parameters, an important component of AI-based models. The resulting algorithm created a direct and simple way of predicting water levels in the rivers, to mitigate flood risk.

AI-based models are increasingly being used to predict flood events. These models forecast flood conditions at downstream locations along a river using information from upstream hydrological and meteorological stations. Not all of the upstream information is useful for prediction and including non-useful data in models can be detrimental to the accuracy of the forecasts. Therefore, there are a wide variety of methods for selecting the most useful input stations; Khan’s research proposes two new methods to select the most useful inputs.

In the 18-month-long study, researchers Khan, his Ph.D. student Everett Snieder and ��Master’s student Rahmah Shakir, used a type of AI known as artificial neural networks, which combine flood-related data such as rainfall, temperature and other flood-related variables to provide the level of the water in the river. This provides information on which data has the biggest impact on predicting water levels. The models reduce prediction uncertainty caused by noise from input data that is not useful.

The researchers found these models provided more accurate estimates of early flood hazard for the Bow River and Don River compared to other methods available to date. Their results can predict floods up to three days in advance for the Bow River and up to six hours in advance for the Don River.

“Currently, Canada doesn’t have a nation-wide flood prediction network,” says Khan. “Our models provide a first step in creating this network and can be extended to many other rivers in Canada. Using our approach, we can now predict a flood hazard for a given river and use this to estimate the damage at a given location, thereby providing better risk quantifications. These types of models are called early warning systems which are essential for emergency preparedness and flood mitigation.”

91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:��Anjum Nayyar, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 44543��or cell 437-242-1547,��anayyar@yorku.ca

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91��ɫ U disaster management and emergency response experts available

roshanp — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 17:45:35 +0000

TORONTO, April 30, 2019 ─ As several communities in Eastern Canada are struggling to manage the impact of historic flooding in the region, 91��ɫ experts are available to discuss emergency response, disaster management, recovery and evacuation.

, associate professor of Disaster and Emergency Management in�� the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, is available for media interviews on disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery, and natural disasters. He was in Bracebridge in the past few days, surveying the situation first hand.

He can speak to:

Disaster response and recovery, mitigation, and preparedness
Role of emergency management
Natural disasters
Disaster recovery and aftermath (physical and social aspects)
, associate professor in the Disaster and Emergency Management Program, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, is a working group member at the Canadian Dam Association on dam safety and emergency management issues. Agrawal’s new book, (2018), offers a comprehensive approach for disaster risk evaluation and identifies early warning systems for various types of hazards.

She can speak to:
- Increase of flood risk due to urbanisation
- Disaster risk management; business continuity
- Physical dynamics of natural hazards
- Disaster management using GIS and remote sensing techniques
91��ɫ��champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. ��

Media Contact:
Gloria Suhasini, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22094, suhasini@yorku.ca

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91��ɫ U disaster management and emergency response experts available

roshanp — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 17:45:35 +0000

He can speak to:

Disaster response and recovery, mitigation, and preparedness
Role of emergency management
Natural disasters
Disaster recovery and aftermath (physical and social aspects)
, associate professor in the Disaster and Emergency Management Program, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, is a working group member at the Canadian Dam Association on dam safety and emergency management issues. Agrawal’s new book, (2018), offers a comprehensive approach for disaster risk evaluation and identifies early warning systems for various types of hazards.

She can speak to:
- Increase of flood risk due to urbanisation
- Disaster risk management; business continuity
- Physical dynamics of natural hazards
- Disaster management using GIS and remote sensing techniques
91��ɫ��champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. ��

Media Contact:
Gloria Suhasini, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22094, suhasini@yorku.ca

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Assessing flood risk and vulnerability: 91��ɫ U expert available

roshanp — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 17:14:05 +0000

��TORONTO, April 29, 2019─ Ontario’s cottage country, especially the Town of Bracebridge, has experienced record-high floodwaters over the past few days and authorities are continuing to be on high alert with more rain expected in the forecast later this week.�� there have advised residents whose well water has been affected to use bottled water instead. The City of Ottawa also continues to watch for peak levels which could happen as early as with some areas expecting higher levels than

is assistant professor in Civil Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering,��91��ɫ. His research interests lie in water resources engineering, focusing on��urban hydrology, including flood risk assessment and uncertainty analysis, sustainable��water resource management and infrastructure, and the impacts of climate change on these systems. His research contributions include designing new��big-data��based techniques to��improve water quality and quantity��analysis in urban areas. In addition, Khan has worked with municipal governments, providing his expertise to a number of stormwater, watershed management and urban hydrology projects.

He can speak to:

How to improve existing stormwater infrastructure to reduce the risk of floods in the future
How data analytics and modelling tools can be used to better highlight the risk of floods in urban areas
Why it is important to consider the flood exposure and vulnerability along with flood hazard to assess flood risk identification

91��ɫ��champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:

Anjum Nayyar, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 44543,��anayyar@yorku.ca

The post Assessing flood risk and vulnerability: 91��ɫ U expert available appeared first on News@91��ɫ.