zainabbikar/somaliafloodwatch

Somalia Flood Watch # 🌊 Somalia Flood Watch — Digniin ### somaliafloodwatch.com > A real-time flood early warning web app for Somalia — bilingual English & Somali, built on AWS. --- ## Why This Exists Somalia experiences devastating annual floods along the **Jubba and Shabelle rivers**, displacing hundreds of thousands of people each year. The 2023 Deyr floods alone affected an estimated 2.48 million people and displaced over 1.2 million from their homes — Somalia's worst flooding in recent history. *Source: UNDP/World Bank/EU Somalia 2023 Deyr Floods Rapid: Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, June 2024* Existing early warning systems (FAO SWALIM, HADMA) are institutional — PDF bulletins, email subscriptions, and SMS alerts only for registered observers. There is no public-facing, real-time, mobile-friendly tool that ordinary Somali people — or diaspora checking on family — can open and immediately understand. This project fills that gap. **Inspired by:** EcoLafaek (Timor-Leste) — a community waste reporting app built on AWS, seen at AWS Summit London, May 2026. **Built by:** Zainab Bikar — Cloud Tech Lead, AWS builder, native Somali speaker. **Planned using:** Kiro (AWS AI-powered IDE) — spec-first SDLC workflow demonstrated at AWS Summit London. --- ## What It Does (Vision) - Displays **real-time river discharge levels** for the Jubba and Shabelle rivers - Shows a clear **risk status** — Safe / Elevated / Danger — based on live data thresholds - Fully bilingual: **English and Somali** (Arabic planned for Phase 3) - **Mobile-first** — designed for low-bandwidth users in Somalia and diaspora on phones - **Free and public** — no login, no subscription, no barriers --- ## Data Sources Somalia Flood Watch combines three complementary data sources: - **Open-Meteo GloFAS Flood API** — 30-day ensemble river discharge forecasts for the **Jubba** and **Shabelle** rivers. Built on the **Copernicus Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS)**, combining ECMWF global weather forecasts with h …