Flood Safety Awareness Week

The National Weather Service has declared March 16th through 20th as Flood Safety Awareness Week.  The National Weather Service in Charleston will feature a different educational topic each day during the awareness week.  The topic for today is the advanced hydrologic prediction service, or AHPS for short.

AHPS is essentially an enhanced graphical interface for accessing river levels, forecasts, flood conditions, and much more.  It provides this information to protect life and property and ensure the economic well-being of the nation.

Because every minute counts, AHPS will help emergency managers be more proactive when responding to flooding.  AHPS provides information for community leaders and business owners to make better life-saving decisions about evacuations or moving property before a flood occurs.  The navigation community will be able to plan with better confidence and optimize barge and shipping operations, saving millions of dollars each year.  Recreational users will be able to stay out of harms way.