MONITORING OF FLOODS ON SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED RIVERS BY AICHI PREFECTURE AND THE CITY OF GAMAGORI, USING SPECIALIZED WATER LEVEL MEASURING DEVICES FOR THE OBSERVATION OF FLOODS

In 2015, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism published the vision for rebuilding a society that is more aware of water-related disaster prevention. It suggests that our entire society should be prepared at all times for water-related disasters, assuming that floods occur. As part of this vision, low-cost and easy-to-install water level measuring devices have been developed for flood monitoring. These water level measuring devices have been installed along the river. And the systems that provide information on river water levels on the website have been launched. Aichi Prefecture has begun installing these water level measuring devices on small and medium-sized rivers managed by Aichi Prefecture. Its purpose is to observe the rivers in flood and to support the evacuation of residents of the flooded area. Aichi Prefecture has been providing information on river water levels on the website since June 2018. Aichi Prefecture and associated cities should use additional new information on river water levels for disaster reduction. In September 2019, Aichi Prefecture and the city of Gamagori began a study on the use of new information on river water levels. Information on water levels of the Ochiai and Nishida rivers in the city of Gamagori has been provided since June 2019. Based on the study, this paper shows the usefulness of this information on water levels to monitor floods and the method to strengthen the system of observing rivers on floods.