How Gorakhpur Boosted Flood Response by 65% With a Smart System Combining Process, Tech & People

This article is sponsored by Canarys Automations Limited

“Every monsoon, it was the same dreadful story. The water would not just flood the streets; it entered our homes, flowing right into the kitchen and living room. We were stranded, sometimes waist‑deep in water, watching helplessly as our belongings were ruined. The floodwaters would remain for days, and often, the officials took time to help us out.”

Such is the recall of Ratna Devi from Ward No 12 in Ashoknagar. Her experience is not an isolated one.

Year after year, this story echoed across Gorakhpur’s low-lying wards, where the monsoon heralded not renewal but ruin. Streets turned into rivers, daily life came to a halt, and residents waited anxiously amid rising waters and diminishing hope.

She adds, “It felt like the monsoon was destroying our home.” From June to September, residents feared waking up to flooded rooms, children forced to skip school, and personal belongings lost to murky water.

Understanding the flood problem: Terrain, drains, and urban growth

Gorakhpur is a saucer-shaped city. During rains, with no natural slope to guide drainage, floodwater lingers, and waterlogging persists.

Mayor Dr Manglesh Kumar Srivastava summarises, “Gorakhpur lies in a naturally low-lying region, surrounded by rivers and drainage channels that easily swell during the monsoon. When heavy rain falls, the water has nowhere to go, so it accumulates and sits.”

Rapid urbanisation has further worsened the situation. With more concrete surfaces and fewer permeable zones, the cityscape now prevents natural rainwater absorption, leading to surface runoff.

Municipal Commissioner Gaurav Singh Sogarwal adds, “Our drainage was built for a smaller and less developed city. Today’s monsoons dump volumes it was never meant to handle.” The ageing drains often fail, especially when blocked by waste or silt, causing backflow into residential areas and prolonged water stagnation.

The impact is severe — stagnant floodwaters disrupt daily life for days, damage homes, and create ideal conditions for the spread of waterborne diseases such as dengue and cholera.

The turning point: Launching the Urban Flood Management Centre

In early 2023, the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation partnered with Canarys Automations to tackle this systemic challenge head-on. Together, they designed and implemented the ‘Urban Flood Management System’, which brings processes, technology, and people together to manage urban flooding.

The Urban Flood Management Centre (UFMC), established by Canarys, serves as a dedicated operational hub. It combines real-time data analysis, predictive forecasting, and close coordination with municipal teams to ensure swift, informed responses to flooding and improved city preparedness.

Sheshadri Srinivas Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from Canarys tells The Better India, “We send our field engineers directly to waterlogged areas and known hotspots during rain events. At the same time, our team remains fully embedded in the city’s emergency control room, supporting real-time decision-making both on the ground and behind the scenes. We do not just deliver software, we stay involved throughout - before, during, and after each rain event.”

Pushparaj Shetty, Director and Business Head at Canarys Telemetry Department, adds, “We guide pump operations, monitor water levels constantly, and deploy teams precisely. This active involvement has changed Gorakhpur’s response from chaos to coordination.”

Built with the community, for the community

A defining feature of the Urban Flood Management System is the citizen-facing ‘Varuna’ app, which will allow residents to receive flood alerts and report issues instantly.

For residents like Ratna, the helpline number altered her sense of helplessness. “Now, if I see blocked drains or rising water, I report it immediately, and municipal teams respond quickly. I finally feel at peace.”

Pushparaj adds, “We are soon launching our citizen-facing ‘Varuna’ app, which will change citizens into frontline observers and responders. This will further strengthen trust and accelerate response.”

Chief Sanitary Inspector DK Bironiya supports this, saying, “We receive instant notifications from the Urban Flood Management Centre (UFMC) through WhatsApp messages or walkie-talkie-based transmissions whenever residents report complaints or waterlogging. This direct flow of information helps us to respond more quickly and efficiently.”

With the dedicated grievance portal, community involvement has become an essential part of flood preparedness.

Intelligence at the core

The Early Warning System (EWS) plus Decision Support System (DSS) fuses multiple data sources — including weather forecasts, live rainfall data, water level sensor readings, drainage flow measurements, and historical flood records.

In the short term, the EWS enables accurate rainfall forecasting and live water-level monitoring, supporting early pump activation and field deployment. In the long term, the DSS helps analyse structural weaknesses and identify priority zones for drainage improvement, flood barriers, and urban redesign.

Sheshadri summarises, “Our DSS acts as a strategic engine; it offers insight not just for managing floods but for rebuilding city infrastructure intelligently.”

From prediction to protection: A fully coordinated approach

The entire system operates through three interconnected stages: Predict, Prepare, and Protect. Each stage is operationalised through dedicated SoPs (Standard Operating Procedures). 

The Prediction system integrates rainfall forecasts from an AI-based forecasting model tailored to Gorakhpur. These rainfall forecasts are then used to forecast the waterlogging locations in the city. Forecasts are delivered at ward-level resolution, helping anticipate rainfall and flood zones up to 24 hours in advance.

Prepare hinges on these predictions. Municipal teams conduct pre-rain drain clean-up operations, schedule pump maintenance, and pre-position mobile pumps and suction machines. A day before forecasted rainfall, officials receive detailed preparedness reports while UFMC  broadcasts alerts and instructions to the officials.

Pushparaj emphasises the difference, “With advanced notice, we deploy pumps and crews ahead of flooding. Instead of scrambling after streets are submerged, we are organising before the deluge arrives.”

The Protect stage begins when rain hits. The real-time DSS tracks water levels, pump activity, and team movements. Communication between the control room and field teams flows continuously through walkie-talkies and WhatsApp.

Out of Gorakhpur’s 25 pumping stations, 21 have been automated via SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) technology. This allows engineers and staff to operate pumps remotely from the control room — significantly reducing delays and improving drainage efficiency.

Citizen grievances logged through the grievance portal feed directly into operational planning.

Sheshadri remarks, “It is the integration of real-time data, automated pump control, and direct community inputs that creates a responsive ecosystem. This coordination is exactly why we are seeing quicker action on the ground and reduced flood-related damage across the city.”

A Safayi Inspector adds, “Rather than chasing complaints after chaos begins, we now receive early alerts that allow us to act before flooding even starts. Based on predictions from the system, we reach vulnerable hotspots at least a day in advance, mobilising sanitation workers to clean drains, clear blockages, and ensure pumps are operational. If required, we also deploy mobile pumps to reinforce these efforts. This proactive coordination does not just save time, it prevents water from entering homes and ultimately helps protect lives.”

Strong leadership made it possible

Embedding such a system requires committed leadership.

Mayor Dr. Manglesh Kumar Srivastava states, “The Urban Flood Management System gives us tools to anticipate floods and act proactively, not only protecting properties but restoring civic trust.”

Municipal Commissioner Gaurav Singh Sogarwal elaborates, “Realigning city operations, deploying predictive systems, and involving citizens via our dedicated grievance portal represent institutional and cultural change. Throughout this journey, the team from Canarys has consistently supported us with hands-on collaboration, training, and real-time guidance. Their presence has been important in making this change both possible and sustainable.”

From partnership to full operation: A disciplined timeline

The journey began in 2023 to 2024, when Gorakhpur’s municipal leaders partnered with Canarys to shift from reactive flood response to proactive intervention.

Following this, in April 2024, the ideation phase was launched, outlining goals like predictive monitoring, process automation, inter-agency coordination, and citizen engagement.

Between May and August 2024, the design and activation phase took shape. Canarys brought in expertise in hydrometeorological modelling, real-time monitoring, and automation. IoT-enabled sensors, cloud-based analytics, and rainfall-to-response simulations were implemented. Simultaneously, the UFMC was established to act as a real-time operations hub.

The implementation phase began in September 2024, with sensors deployed citywide, automation integrated into pump systems, and real-time coordination tools like WhatsApp and walkie-talkies introduced.

From late 2024 into early 2025, the system was further optimised. Predictive models became sharper, the citizen grievance portal and the toll-free helpline numbers were rolled out, and community participation increased — marking Gorakhpur’s shift from reactive pumping to intelligent flood resilience.

Results that speak

The impact has been visible both in numbers and lives saved:

• Response times dropped from 10-12 hours to under 1.5-2 hours.
• Pump downtime decreased by over 60%.
• Pre-monsoon drain cleaning covered over 95% of the targeted areas.
• Flood forecast accuracy remained above 80% for 24-hour predictions.
• Over 250 citizen complaints were recorded; more than 70% resolved within hours.
• Overall system efficiency improved by 65%, boosting municipal response capacity.

Ratna Devi says, “In 2022, whenever it rained heavily, our home would flood. Water would enter the kitchen and the living room. But after the system was deployed in our area, everything changed. We got timely warnings, the pumps were switched on even before the rain peaked, and even if some water did enter the street, it drained away within an hour. We finally felt like the city was prepared to combat prolonged rainfall.”

What lies ahead

Looking ahead, Mayor Srivastava envisions a more resilient Gorakhpur. “We will expand this Urban Flood Management System, deploy more sensors, and strengthen community outreach. Our goal is to set a national standard for flood-ready cities,” he says.

Municipal Commissioner Sogarwal adds, “Our experience shows how leadership, technology, and citizen engagement can surmount the toughest urban challenges. We hope Gorakhpur’s journey inspires others.”

Gorakhpur’s Urban Flood Management System stands as proof of what’s possible when smart technology, civic leadership, and community collaboration come together. Today, monsoon no longer spells panic — but preparedness. And this is just the beginning; the true impact will unfold in the years to come as the project continues to expand.

Ratna Devi’s words now carry hope instead of fear. “We no longer feel scared when the rains come. Our city is awake, listening, and ready to protect us. This is the future we always hoped for.”

All pictures courtesy Canarys Automations