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This paper presents a new data-driven modelling framework for forecasting probabilistic flood inundation maps for real-time applications. The proposed end-to-end (rainfall–inundation) method combines a suite of machine learning (ML) algorithms to forecast discharge and deliver probabilistic flood inundation maps with a 3 h lead time. To classify wet/dry cells, the method applies rainfall–discharge models based on random forest technique on top of classifiers based on multi-layer perceptron. The hybrid modelling framework was tested using two subsets of data created from an observed fluvial flood event in a small flood-prone town in the UK. The results showed that the model can effectively emulate the outcomes of a hydrodynamic model (Flood Modeller (FM)) with considerably high accuracy measured in terms of flood arrival time error and classification accuracy. The mean arrival time difference between the proposed model and the hydrodynamic model was 1 h 53 min. The classification accuracy was measured against a synthetic aperture radar image, producing accuracies of 88.22% and 86.58% for the proposed data-driven model and FM, respectively. The key features of the proposed modelling framework are that it is simple to implement, detects flooded cells effectively and substantially reduces computational time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic investigation into modelling capacities of three conventional data-driven modelling techniques, namely, wavelet-based artificial neural network (WANN), support vector regression (SVR) and deep belief network (DBN) for multi-step ahead stream flow forecasting. To evaluate the effectiveness of these modelling techniques, hydro-meteorological hourly datasets from three case-study rivers located in the UK have been used. A heuristic performance analysis of the modelling schemes has been conducted by systematically analysing the key statistics that measure magnitude, scatter and density of model errors. Finally, for each of the modelling techniques, the performance deterioration rate in time was estimated. The results show that the SVR model can forecast quite accurately up to one to two hours ahead but its performance deteriorates gradually from three hours onwards. Further it has been found that the WANN model performs better when the overall non-linearity of the system increases, whereas the DBN model appeared to show consistently poor predictive capabilities when compared to the other models presented herein. The authors conclude by stating that, for any selected model, it is possible to use an identical model structure for up to two steps ahead forecasting. Models need to be re-configured beyond that limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]