Where We're Placing Our Ground Sensors
Ground sensors complement satellite-based flood and landslide models by providing data where satellite coverage is limited because of revisit times, cloud cover, or resolution. The placement of sensors is strategic, based on evidence of Rwanda's most vulnerable areas, where the monitoring infrastructure is lacking. While the current focus is on Rwanda, the same approach could be extended to other flood and landslide prone regions, and Kurinda intends to propose this expansion in future work.
Priority Locations
| Location | Hazard | Why It's a Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Sebeya Catchment (Western Province) | Flood | Rwanda's most documented flood zone and site of the country's only operational flood early warning system. Recurring floods since 2011 have damaged critical infrastructure, including the Gihira water treatment plant. Despite being the pilot EWS site, upstream rainfall and stream gauge coverage across several tributary districts remains insufficient. |
| Nyabugogo Catchment (City of Kigali) | Flood | Rwanda's primary urban flood hotspot. Modelling shows 100-year return-period flood depths of 3.24 m, with inundation covering up to 431 hectares. Local businesses lose an estimated RWF 178.2 million annually to recurring floods, and this catchment has been specifically targeted for next-phase telemetry installation. |
| Nyabarongo Catchment (Central Rwanda) | Flood | The country's largest hydrological system (~8,500 km², roughly a third of Rwanda), yet covered by only one telemetry station. Flood susceptibility mapping found 6% and 9.6% of the catchment in very high and high susceptibility zones, respectively. A 20-year increasing trend in annual streamflow has also been linked to deforestation. |
| Western Province: Congo-Nile Ridge Districts (Karongi, Ngororero, Rutsiro, Nyabihu, Rubavu, Nyamasheke) | Landslide | Rwanda's most landslide-affected region. Karongi saw ~750 simultaneous shallow landslides in a single night in May 2018. Ngororero and Rutsiro suffered the highest death tolls in the catastrophic May 2023 compound disaster, during the highest single-day rainfall total ever recorded in Rwanda. |
| Northern Province: Gakenke and Volcanic Region | Landslide | Gakenke has the highest number of houses identified as at-risk from landslides nationally, with several sectors documented as highly susceptible. Musanze and Burera are also active landslide zones, now targeted by a dedicated World Bank resilience project. |
The Bigger Picture
Rwanda's disaster management agency (MINEMA) has identified 14 districts across the country that require urgent monitoring support. The priority areas mentioned earlier are where the evidence is strongest, but they do not cover all the needs. As monitoring capacity grows, it is expected that coverage will extend to these additional districts as well.