EThekwini Municipality has a semi-functional system, and in the spirit of learning and knowledge sharing, is assisting municipalities to build effective early warning systems for disasters. This Policy Implementation Dialogue (PIDS) was facilitated by MILE and saw technical and disaster management practitioners from South African municipalities, the National Disaster Management Centre, the KZN Disaster Management Centre, South African Weather Service (SAWS), Umgeni Water and the CSIR in active participation.  Led by officials from The EThekwini Municipality Coastal Management Unit, the University of Delft and Deltares from the Netherlands shared the importance of a Forecast Early Warning System (FEWS) which is an expert data handling and model integration software for flood forecasting, drought and seasonal forecasting, and real time water resources management system.

The City has implemented a Forecast Early Warning system (FEWS) approach, which is based on open source software system currently implemented in over 35 countries with the USA, England & Wales and the Netherlands using it as the national and official flood forecasting system. 

Mr. Matthijs Lemans from Deltares expanded on the route eThekwini took to build and adopt the system and expressed the need for all partners in this space to partner with municipalities.  

“Our Interest is to bring the FEWS Science into operation. We want to bridge the gap to add more science into the practice. We are always looking for added value. At the end we want practitioners to become owners of the system. We bring fourth innovative ways and models to assist in Forecast Early Warning Systems, said Lemans. 

The team of experts from the City’s Coastal Management Unit showcased the success with FEWS and expressed their commitment to share with other municipalities the lessons learned so far on setting up FEWS systems towards effective management of disasters. 

Full participation in the Course earned participants 2.5 CPD (Continuous Professional Development Points) from the Institute of Municipal Engineers South Africa (IMESA).  

Although overwhelmed by the route ahead, participants left the Master Class empowered and inspired with a better understanding of how to build their own local Early Warning Systems, and were able to set up their basic systems for their localities.

The presence of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) was key to ensure that this session was successful.

“The course provided insights into the capabilities that FEWS could contribute towards data management and the generation of early warnings. The NDMC is encouraged by the progress of eThekwini Metro in the development of early warning systems and is looking forward to future outputs in this respect,” said Mark Van Staden, Manager NDMC. 

In moving forward the team will create a user group for all participants to interact and engage on how to start their own improve Early Warning Systems towards a common goal for effective disaster management in South Africa.

“You can have the best systems for responding to disasters, but ensuring that our local municipalities and communities are well prepared, armed with the right, timeous and reliable information is the most critical,” said Mr Randeer Kasserchun, Deputy Head, Coastal Management Unit.  ​

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