Watch Duty expands disaster coverage with free flood alerts
Following significant growth during the 2024 Los Angeles wildfires, Watch Duty has launched flood monitoring capabilities, marking its first new disaster alert type since its 2021 inception.
Watch Duty, the nonprofit disaster-awareness application originally established to track wildfires, has introduced flood monitoring as a free update to its platform. The service aggregates data from multiple US federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Weather Service, the US Geological Survey, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Users in flood-prone areas can now receive push notifications regarding floodplain locations and water levels, with the ability to set alerts based on buoy data indicating potential flooding threats.
The expansion follows a period of substantial growth for the organisation, which gained prominence during the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles in 2024. In the wake of those events, Watch Duty doubled its staff and leadership headcount to meet increased demand. The app, which utilises a hybrid model of paid employee reporters and volunteers monitoring emergency responder radio channels, has since integrated with Amazon’s Ring cameras and partnered with Google.org to develop AI-powered tools for transcribing emergency communications.
Watch Duty CEO John Mills stated that the initiative aims to distil complex data from disparate sources into actionable insights for users. While the underlying information from government agencies can be overwhelming, the app presents a simplified outlook focused on where floodplains are located and current water levels. Mills noted that while floods are technically simpler to track than wildfires due to the more predictable movement of water, the challenge lies in helping users reconcile conflicting data to make informed decisions quickly.
Development of the flood feature faced delays, with Mills noting that the team intended to begin work in January 2025 but encountered disruptions. The new functionality allows users to locate the nearest buoy and set notifications for when water heights reach levels that could pose a threat. This marks the first time the service has added a new disaster alert type since its launch in 2021, moving beyond its initial focus on California’s wildfires to cover the entire United States.
Looking ahead, Watch Duty intends to expand its coverage to include all natural disasters, though it has explicitly stated it will exclude crime-related monitoring, such as police radio signals. The organisation views the flood alert system as the first step in this broader expansion, aiming to provide a comprehensive resource for users facing various environmental threats.
