FloodMapp in expansion mode as natural disasters become more frequent

A Brisbane flood tech start-up is in rapid expansion mode as governments and organisations across the globe try to cope with the increased frequency of catastrophic weather events.

THE tipping point for Juliette Murphy and Ryan Prosser was the devastation they witnessed by floods in two continents.

What they saw pushed them to launch FloodMapp in Brisbane in early 2018 with the aim to counter the impact of extreme flood events that costs lives and causes billions of dollars in damage.

What they developed was real-time flood prediction technology that provides up-to-date data as the event unfolds as opposed to standard scenario industry models.

And since then the climate tech start-up has grown as governments and organisations try to cope with the increased frequency of catastrophic flooding events.

Ms Murphy, who is the chief executive of the company, said all floods were different.

“Every flow is different and the 1 in a 100-year mark does not show you tomorrow what is it going to look like on the ground,” she said.

“The average weather information tells you what you might expect in February but you want to know whether to bring an umbrella with you when you walk outside the front door. That’s the difference.”

FloodMapp co-founders Ryan Prosser and Juliette Murphy.

Ms Murphy said the latest flood event down the east coast of Australia has been devastating and believes there will be more similar events in the future.

“You have to try and find the best way to help out in a bad situation and we have been able to work with emergency services to support their response,” she said.

“This flood is a wakeup call to government agencies and asset owners about the need to really invest in flood mitigation going forward. The data is saying these types of events are getting more frequent and more severe.”

An engineer, Ms Murphy had a background in flood mitigation while Mr Prosser was also an engineer originally from Canada and focused more on software development.

They decided to partner up and engineer a new way of thinking in combating floods, with Ms Murphy having been through the 2011 Brisbane floods while Mr Prosser’s home town of Calgary suffered a flooding event in 2013.

“In Canada you don’t normally get floods often because it snows. But when you get a lot of rain on top of eight months of snowfall it was pretty catastrophic for the city and I didn’t know what to do about it,” Mr Prosser said.

“Juliette knew in her previous profession all about modelling for these floods and she knew it was definitely possible to create some thing better than what they had in 2011.”

FloodMapp provides emergency services with real-time information to aide search and rescues during floods events.

FloodMapp products are powered by DASH a ground breaking hydraulic model which the company has calculated runs 13,700 times faster than industry-standard 2D hydraulic models.

It uses over a billion data points and combines big data analytics, automation and machine learning techniques with novel hydrology and hydraulic models to achieve large scale, rapid flood modelling designed to give emergency managers rapid and localised flood data they can depend on for decision making.

Since it was launched, FloodMapp has grown from three people to a team of 26 based in its headquarters in Fortitude Valley with clients including the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES), Noosa Regional Council, Energy Queensland and Origin Energy.

The company also has a satellite presence on Melbourne, and will later expand into Sydney and also Virginia in the US.

Ms Murphy said it was too early for example of the impact of FloodMapp services in the latest floods.

However, she said during the floods last year around Beaudesert they were able to give real time information to the QFES who started evacuation of home in danger 24 hours before the inundation.

“The Bureau of Meteorology provides excellent information about where rivers will peak and at what heights but they don’t have the information about the specific properties that will be inundated,’” she said.

“That’s where we partner closely with the bureau and the QFES to use the information to predict where that water will go on a map which identifies the impact on people, property and critical infrastructure.”

FloodMapp products Forecast, NowCast and PostCast that provide flood intelligence before, during and after flooding to help with preparation, response and recovery.

In the US FloodMapp has integrated with wayfinding app Waze in a pilot project to alert users when roads are flooded. The public response has been positive and has the potential to be rolled out to more areas.

Flood waters in Rosalie in Brisbane after the deluge.

Importantly, FloodMapp, which Mr Prosser said was “software you can play around with”, is able to integrate its data model with GIS systems including ESRI enabling emergency managers to access rapid flood modelling during a crisis.

It also allows input from third parties and the public on the ground to update the real-time models.

FloodMapp recently raised a $US6m ($A8.4m) in venture capital in a fundraising round led by New York based Union Square Ventures’ Climate Fund, with participation by Mundi Ventures, Climate X, and Jelix Ventures which will fund further research and expansion.

In the long-term the company will expand to more countries and has fielded inquires from as far afield as Brazil, Canada, France, India, Malaysia, Thailand and more.

Mr Prosser, who is the company’s chief technology officer, said the 2022 floods were a “trigger event” that sparked a wave of interest from academic institutions and transport and logistics companies and other businesses and organisations.

“There has been a lot of inbound interest from the floods and we are trying the help as many people as we can,” he said.

“We are talking to a lot of agencies and it feels like we’re flood insurance providers with a slightly different flavour.”