Case study
Hexagon Platinum Partner

Managing River Flood Risks in Romania andBulgaria
System Predicts Disasters and Provides Early Warning
Floods can be unpredictable and hazardous to theproperty and people in an affected area. Located insoutheast Romania on the left bank of the Danube River,
Calarasi County is at an elevated risk of flooding. In thepast 10 years, more than 1,000 flood-related emergency

events have occurred, and the overall damage causedby floods in the region amounts to millions of euros.
Likewise, Polski Trambesh, Bulgaria, is situated near theYantra River and is prone to flooding.

A 3D flood simulation calculated based on Danube River water levels.

Without a flood forecasting and early warning system inplace, the Calarasi County Council and the Polski Trambesh
Municipality were unable to mitigate flood risks oreffectively respond to events. Both governments neededa modern system and solutions to predict and prevent
floods, equip crisis coordination centers to communicate
quickly and easily with local disaster response teams andcitizens, and ensure overall disaster resilience in theircross-border area.

“The IT System is a collaborative platform that provides
integrated inter-institutional management across theregion, uniting all information necessary for decision
making and providing an overview for each collaborativeinstitution,” said Elena Comsa of the Calarasi CountyCouncil. “Following implementation, the citizens benefit
from risk prevention and management actions, prevention
measures, and protection against floods through highprecision 3D simulations.”

To address shared flooding risks and disaster management
needs, Calarasi County Council and the Polski Trambesh
Municipality joined forces and secured financing from theEuropean Regional Development Fund. Both governments
partnered with Intergraph Computer Services in Romania,a Hexagon partner, and leveraged Hexagon’s geospatial
technologies to build a solution. In 2019, they implemented
the Risk Management IT System for forecasting floods andresponding to other crisis events.

Intergraph Computer Services worked to make theRisk Management IT System a reality. The integrated
information system includes both hardware and softwareand featuring a variety of Hexagon technologies: GeoMediafor data collection and analysis, ERDAS IMAGINE forchange detection through imagery analysis, ERDASAPOLLO for data management and delivery, LuciadFusionand extensions to create 3D flood simulations, and M.App
Enterprise to create workflows and 2D and 3D dashboards.

2Managing River Flood Risks in Romania and Bulgaria

Creating a Flood Forecasting System
Because of the heightened risk of flooding, the twomunicipalities needed to focus on predicting floods. TheRisk Management IT System provides 3D flood forecasting
based on a blend of historic information and live sensor
data, then creates simulations involving digital reality oftarget areas. These 3D digital models of land, houses,forests, infrastructure, and other elements of interest
allow users to simulate the rising river levels and visualize
the impact of floods. Officials can see not only thelocations of structures and natural landscape elements,
but also a map of the area’s population, which allows themto quickly assess the potential danger of a flood.

While the odds of these events occurring may seem
low, climate change and an unusual propensity to flood
have rendered Calarasi County and Polski Trambesh
at particular risk of such catastrophes. The Risk
Management IT System is designed to handle massive
amounts of data and analysis, so calculating a variety offlooding simulations is a benefit with no downside. Once
officials understand different flood event scenarios, they
can confidently create specific evacuation and responseplans to ensure each flood event results in as little
destruction as possible.

Once the officials have seen how a flood might impact
citizens’ lives and critical infrastructure, they can decide
on appropriate precautions and create more robust andefficient response plans. The Risk Management IT System
keeps track of the weather and information collected fromwater level sensors and displays it on a map. To provide
decision makers with context and a complete picture of theflooding possibilities, it also features a module that shows
flood-affected areas on maps in three scenarios: 10-year
flood, 100-year flood, and 1,000-year flood.

The IT System is a collaborative platform that provides integrated
inter-institutional management across the region, uniting all
information necessary for decision making and providing an
overview for each collaborative institution”
Elena Comsa
Calarasi County Council

The risk evolution monitoring dashboard is designed to predict risks in a certain area. This is an example of the evolution in one location over a period ofone week.

An example of a post-event dashboard showing the damage done in a certain area.

Improving Flood Event Reaction Times
The key to saving lives and property during a flood isearly warning. The Risk Management IT System keeps a
unified record of all types of risks along with descriptive
attributes, classifications, and geographical location
and areas of interest. The system then performs
change detection analysis and automatically assesses
the evolution of risks. When a risk is trending high,officials can take measures such as evacuating citizens,preparing emergency response personnel, and deploying
preventative techniques such as sandbags.
But floods can’t always be thwarted or controlled, so theRisk Management IT System also facilitates the planning ofreconstruction measures. Users can manage information
including institutional managers, dispositive and action
devices, and escape routes. The system also works tohelp officials predict and model other types of risks,
including dangerous weather phenomena, seismic hazard,
technological risks like nuclear failure, transport accidents,
water pollution, and biological risks like epidemics. It canhelp leaders across departments and agencies identify
illegal buildings or morphological changes in the terrainof risk areas through comparative monitoring of satellite
images.

Another important capability the system provides
government officials is the ability to track risk factor
indicators, reference historic events, issue alerts at
predetermined risk thresholds, and display spatial
information about risks. The system can also perform
complex, specialized analysis and serve as a planningbase for action plans in three phases: before an event
takes place, while the event is occurring to minimize its
impact, and after the event has concluded, to repair theresulting situation. These plans can be shared between
municipalities, empowering them to perform interagency
collaboration and maximize the effective use of theirpersonnel and resources during an event.

Managing River Flood Risks in Romania and Bulgaria

5Working Together Across Multiple
Agencies and Organizations
Floods and other natural disasters are not confined
to one jurisdiction; nor do they impact just one pieceof critical infrastructure. Adequate response to theseevents requires coordination and action from a number ofagencies. Government officials, police, utility providers,
and relief workers are among the many parties who need to
be informed of an imminent, current, or recent flood event.
The Risk Management IT System provides a user-friendly
platform for authorities, intervention teams, and citizens,allowing for optimized cooperation between agencies
and organizations. Its thematic dashboards allow Calarasi
County and Polski Trambesh to achieve an integrated
management of the territory in the cross-border area.
The Risk Management IT System optimizes andstreamlines workflows, planning, and the allocationof resources to improve internal and inter-agency
cooperation, and it facilitates the management of large
and varied datasets from many sources, including sensors,
geospatial data (numeric or alphanumeric), audio/video(from tablets and the mobile application), satellite imagery,
CAD files, documents, and more. Even granular details likethe lengths of individual roads, the condition of road signs,
and the current position of machinery are covered, soinfrastructure can be managed through its full life cycle.

ConclusionThe Risk Management IT System has revolutionizeddisaster planning and emergency response in Romania andBulgaria. By combining multiple Hexagon technologies,
Intergraph Computer Services has built a customized
solution that met all of the municipalities’ needs andimproved their operations. About 300,000 people havebenefited from coordinated risk management activities.
Around 150,000 have benefited from reduced reaction timein emergency situations because authorities are able toleverage harmonized, integrated tools. In addition, officials
have new, advanced capabilities that facilitate institutionaland inter-institutional cooperation and a holistic approachto managing territory.
Whether it’s forecasting floods and other threats,
broadcasting early warnings, generating evacuationroutes, or monitoring an in-progress mission, the Risk
Management IT System is keeping regional citizens safer.
Officials can see what measures have been taken and theresults achieved by those measures, so they can makedata-driven decisions in future emergencies and act inconcert to mitigate the effects.

Officials from both governments can monitor the executionof tasks and interventions, track GPS positions, record
resolutions and measures, and generate reports. Fieldcrews can share live video and photos, which continuously
improves situational awareness for all involved agencies.
By transforming data into actionable information andintegrating it into a comprehensive solution, the systemmanages all aspects of daily activities and all kinds ofevents, helping authorities anticipate and solve anysituation. In addition, information of interest to the
public is shared freely, allowing citizens to aid in meeting
community recovery objectives.
The implementation of this comprehensive and complex
solution has led to increased interoperability between
public institutions. Citizens have benefited from better
public services and improved communication. Events canbe more efficiently managed thanks to the availability of acommon operational picture. Huge amounts of informationand processes are shared across systems, and, mostimportantly, savings have been realized in time, resources,money, and human life.

Managing River Flood Risks in Romania and Bulgaria

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