TechGoogle’s approach to forecasting river floods with AI
Google says its models use rainfall, river levels and ground conditions to predict river floods up to seven days ahead.
TLDR
Google says its Flood Forecasting Initiative grew from a 2018 pilot in India to making predictions in 150 countries, where more than 2 billion people live. In an interview, its flood forecasting lead Deborah Cohen describes how models analyze global data to predict river floods up to seven days ahead. Google also highlights Groundsource, announced in March 2026, which it describes as an AI-powered method for turning public disaster data into an archive, starting with urban flash floods.
Google’s approach to forecasting river floods with AI
Google says its models use rainfall, river levels and ground conditions to predict river floods up to seven days ahead.
TLDR
Google says its Flood Forecasting Initiative grew from a 2018 pilot in India to making predictions in 150 countries, where more than 2 billion people live. In an interview, its flood forecasting lead Deborah Cohen describes how models analyze global data to predict river floods up to seven days ahead. Google also highlights Groundsource, announced in March 2026, which it describes as an AI-powered method for turning public disaster data into an archive, starting with urban flash floods.