Over the years, floods in Central Africa have been increasing in frequency and intensity, causing significant damage and losses.
In 2024, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo experienced major floods, impacting 1.9 million and 1.2 million people, respectively ( OCHA, 2024 ). To strengthen Central Africa's capacity in identifying, forecasting, and assessing risks and warnings of floods, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is working closely with AGRHYMET Regional Center and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) on the development and adaptation of the FANFAR river flood forecasting system in the countries in the region.
FANFAR is a hydrological system that publishes information on flood risk, providing river flood forecasts for the next 10 days. The system is based on modeling the hydrographic behavior of river basins (e.g., Volta, Niger, Senegal, Chad, Tanganyika, Congo, etc.), as well as meteorological forecasts.
Financed by the CREWS Central Africa project , a three-day regional workshop on management and exchange of hydrometeorological data to support the development of the FANFAR system was held from 10 to 12 March 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
