Overview
- Gemini processed about 5 million articles to extract 2.6 million historical flood events across 150+ countries, geo‑tagged as the Groundsource dataset now released publicly.
- Google trained an LSTM model on this dataset to signal medium or high urban flash‑flood risk up to 24 hours in advance.
- Forecasts are live on Google’s Flood Hub for urban areas in roughly 150 countries and are being shared with emergency‑response agencies.
- A Southern African Development Community official reported a verified alert during trials that enabled a faster response on the ground.
- Current limits include ~20 km² spatial resolution, no local radar integration, no severity estimates, and weaker performance where news coverage is sparse.