Articles | Volume 21, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-261-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-261-2021
Research article
 | 
25 Jan 2021
Research article |  | 25 Jan 2021

Are Kenya Meteorological Department heavy rainfall advisories useful for forecast-based early action and early preparedness for flooding?

David MacLeod, Mary Kilavi, Emmah Mwangi, Maurine Ambani, Michael Osunga, Joanne Robbins, Richard Graham, Pedram Rowhani, and Martin C. Todd

Data sets

Digitized heavy rainfall advisories 2015-2019 D. MacLeod, E. Mwangi, and M. Kilavi https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13553651.v1

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Short summary
Forecasts of natural hazards save lives. But the accuracy of forecasts must be evaluated before use. Here we evaluate heavy rainfall advisories over Kenya. We assess their ability to anticipate heavy rainfall and show how well they warned of recent floods which had significant impacts. We find that although they effectively warn of heavy rainfall and flooding, issues such as a lack of spatial detail limit their utility for systematic approaches to preparedness.
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