What if...

Our coach complained that she doesn't understand the flood warnings that she gets on the weather app on her smart phone.  All it tells her is that our county is under a flood watch.  That's it.  Does that mean her house is at risk?  Is she in a flood prone area?  What about if we were camping at the time?  Would we be at risk there?

What if we could warn people when they are in a flood prone area?  Not just when conditions are right for flooding but if they are personally in a flood prone area at that time?  What if we could alert them and give them information too?  Tell them what they can do to keep themselves safe?




What if there was an app for that?!  Wouldn't that be great?





We could use the GPS function on a smart phone and current flood hazard maps to determine if you are in area that is at risk for a flood.  If the app finds you in an area that is at risk, it can alert you.






Then the app could link you to data that would help you decide what to do next.  It could give you basic items that you need to have on hand if a flood is predicted.  It could give you directions to get you to higher ground if you happen to be outside camping or hiking at the time.  It could give you access to local emergency numbers too.



We invited Kim, a meteorologist, to one of our meetings to ask her about what she knew about flooding and what she thought of our app idea.  Kim helped us research flooding in general, the resources that are currently used to determine flood risks, and what would be needed to make our app a reality.  We found that all of the elements of our app are already in place.  All that would be needed would be someone to develop the app and a large server to manage it.

Maybe someday....