Heavy rain often turns city streets into traffic jams, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. Knowing exactly where water is rising can help commuters decide whether to travel now or wait, making the city move more safely.

Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) runs a real‑time flood monitoring network with more than 1,000 water‑level sensors, over 500 CCTV cameras, rain gauges and weather radar. The data are sent to a central operations centre for analysis.

At the operations centre, staff monitor the incoming data, dispatch rapid‑response teams when needed, and send alerts through SMS and the MyTransport.SG app. This ensures that people receive up‑to‑date warnings as conditions change.

Alerts are triggered when water levels reach 50%, 75%, 90% and 100% of a canal’s capacity, and users can choose to follow up to three nearby canals or drains. The location‑specific messages let residents see exactly how the water is affecting the routes they use.

In July 2026, South Korea’s Korea Meteorological Administration sent an “extreme rainfall emergency” text to people based on their current location after a rainfall of about 100 mm per hour. The message aimed to warn those already in the dangerous area quickly.

Vietnam’s platforms such as Zalo, VNeID and telecom SMS can incorporate real‑time flood and traffic data to send location‑based warnings. An information system would manage the timing of people’s movements, acting as a “safety buffer” during floods while complementing, not replacing, physical drainage infrastructure.