Piccard.ai Tackles Flash Flooding for Melbourne Water
Melbourne artificial intelligence and machine learning startup, Piccard.ai has announced it will deploy a new AI powered flood warning system with Melbourne Water.
Flash flooding is estimated to cause over $360 million in damages each year in Melbourne. Piccard has been contracted to undertake a 12-month pilot project, designing, developing and building a software application that can better predict flash floods, aiding both the government and the general public.
Timothy Kallady, founder of Piccard and an AI specialist who recently represented Victoria as part of the City of Melbourne’s visit to Nanjing, China, believes that current tools and processes are failing the city when it comes to flash flooding.
“Existing capabilities allow us to predict floods due to rising river waters, which usually occurs slowly after days of heavy rainfall. The majority of flood damage in Melbourne, however, is caused by flash flooding which occurs immediately after a heavy storm. Predicting these is beyond current capabilities,” said Timothy Kallady.
Developing a Solution for Melbourne Water
Using historic rainfall data from Melbourne Water’s network, Mr. Kallady has built and taught an AI to predict flash floods and to warn those in their paths.
“We’ve trained an AI to learn from past floods and recognise what rainfall patterns lead to flash flooding. The AI can then use short-term rainfall forecasts from Bureau of Meteorology to predict floods and automatically warn those likely to be affected,” Mr. Kallady added.
The 12-month trial project, called FloodML, will target a few of the worst ‘flood hotspots’ in Melbourne, including Elwood Canal, which currently floods every few years.
The AI Solution’s Deliverables
Initially, the technology will be used to trigger SMS warnings to affected residents, and enable councils to proactively close roads.
In the future, predictions are expected to be available to the public through the Emergency Management Victoria website and app, similar to the way the public receives bushfire information.
The project is an example of Piccard’s unique approach to AI solution development. Working with Melbourne Water, Piccard identified a high-impact problem where AI could deliver significant value, and using their data, demonstrated what was possible with AI. This helped Piccard to establish a strong business case for investing in this pilot project.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Melbourne Water in their AI adoption journey,” Mr. Kallady concluded.
Paul Rasmussen, Team Leader, Hydrology & Flood Warning for Melbourne Water said, “We are excited to be working with Piccard on this project. With a changing climate, flash flooding is expected to become more frequent and severe. The ability to predict flash floods and provide warning to those affected is a game-changer, which is made possible by AI.”
Piccard.ai at YBF Ventures
Piccard is housed within Melbourne tech and innovation hub YBF Ventures. YBF’s CEO, Farley Blackman is a director of Piccard and is delighted that FloodML is such an impactful project for Melbourne.
“It is very exciting that Piccard has been contracted by Melbourne Water. Addressing the issue of flash flooding — a costly problem for both councils and the people that call Melbourne home, is a complex undertaking and one that I have no doubt Piccard can provide a solution to. Melbourne’s future will be a safer place with the application of the new technologies mastered by Piccard,” said Farley Blackman, YBF Ventures’ CEO.
In May, Piccard.ai was announced a joint winner of the Linfox FuelHack Hackathon. Read the full article.
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