Drones and AI join China's battle against typhoons, floods

BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- In the ongoing flood season this summer, China is leveraging technologies from drones to AI models to improve the response to disasters including typhoons and flash floods.

Gaemi, the third typhoon of this year, made landfall last Thursday in coastal Fujian Province.

During the following days, about 312,700 people were evacuated to safety in a timely manner, with no casualties or major incidents reported in the province. Damaged power and telecom facilities were fixed quickly and resumed operation.

Fujian's effective response was also reflected in the early warning Flash SMS (Short Message Service) messages sent to local cadres before the typhoon arrived.

Nearly 350,000 people responsible for meteorological and geological disaster prevention and relief received the alert messages, which were displayed directly on their phone screens and did not disappear until they clicked to confirm receipt.

This is the first time the meteorological department has tried the mandatory reminder service, said Lin Weihua, a meteorological official of Fujian, noting that it helped improve the timeliness and accuracy of disaster warnings and gain the initiative for disaster relief.

While the Flash SMS helps people prepare when a typhoon approaches, drones flying into it enable forecasters to track it more closely and precisely calculate its intensity and influence.

China's meteorological authorities sent Haiyan-1, a large civil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), into the interior of Typhoon Prapiroon, the fourth typhoon of the year, in the early morning of July 21, when the typhoon had just formed in the South China Sea.

Taking off from a meteorological base in south China's Hainan Province, Haiyan-1 released eight detectors to measure temperature, humidity, wind direction, wind speed and air pressure at various altitudes over a two-hour flight.

The more than 4,200 valid data items transmitted in real-time to the meteorological big-data cloud platform helped create a three-dimensional picture of the typhoon's structure.

Zhao Peitao, a researcher of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), said large UAVs carrying out observations of tropical depressions offer refined data support for the forecast of their development, paths, intensity and impact, thereby enhancing the forecast accuracy.

Apart from drones, more new technologies and innovations have been adopted across the country to help people handle the extreme weather and protect lives and properties.

In Guangchang County of east China's Jiangxi Province, a research team from East China University of Technology examined the health of dams using ground-penetrating radar and other equipment.

Previously, inspectors mainly relied on experience to judge whether the dam was stable. Wang Shuo, the team leader, said with this technology, inspectors can "see through" the dam structure and quickly determine whether there are hidden dangers such as holes, cracks, loose soil layers, piping and seepage.

In southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, officials of the Shapingba District have established the city's first digital flood response command system.

With access to real-time data from 14 reservoirs, 32 hydrological stations, and more than 2,800 automated rainfall stations across the Jialing River basin, the system enables comprehensive monitoring of rain and water conditions, building a "digital dam," according to Ling Jian, deputy head of the district. It also uses three-dimensional modeling of buildings along the river to facilitate emergency response.

China is also exploring the booming AI technology in the battle against floods.

The CMA in June launched three AI-powered models to address difficulties in the short and medium-range weather forecast, the nowcast and the over-15-day forecast.

The meteorological department is strengthening the practical application of the three large models in the weather forecast during the current flood season, CMA official Liang Feng said.