In many countries that experience frequent natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and earthquakes, it may be argued that floods are among the most devastating of them all, claiming more lives and causing more property damage. Additionally, in most cases, floods seem to follow droughts and vice-versa, as both disasters are subject to similar extreme weather and climate conditions. The recurrent nature of these natural disasters is also alarming. Consequently, RCMRD in partnership with the University of Oklahoma is conducting a four-day training workshop on the Ensemble Framework for Flash Flood Forecasting (EF5) in Nairobi Kenya from 7-10 February, 2017.

EF5 is a hydrological modeling software that allows users, including non-hydrologists, to monitor and forecast hydrological conditions like floods and droughts. The training entails introduction to hydrological concepts, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, remote sensing of hydrological quantities, and use of the hydrological model output for various tasks. It is anticipated that by the end of the training users will understand basic hydrological and modeling concepts and how GIS software can be used in hydrological analysis.

The training was officially opened by Prof. John Kiema, Director, Technical Services Directorate, RCMRD. While making his remarks, Prof. Kiema emphasized the importance of the training workshop, being most relevant in this region. He said, “We look forward to an interactive engagement with all of you in the next few days. Hopefully, this will inform and shape the ongoing refinement and development of a real-time system that is adaptable for the entire East Africa region.”