‘Made-in-Da Nang’ Vrain is the largest automatic rain gauge device in Viet Nam, and it provides early flood warnings and monitor reservoir operations, hereby strengthening local capacity to anticipate, prepare for, cope with and respond more effectively to disasters.

Users can access hourly precipitation data and rain forecasts for coming days in many different areas, and also the expected paths of storms and natural disaster scenarios at www.vrain.vn.

Developed by the Da Nang-based Water Resources Development and Consulting Company (WATEC), Vrain has claimed the top prizes in last year’s municipal-level contest on technical innovations, and the 2019 Viet Nam Fund for Scientific and Technological Creations (VIFOTEC) Award.

Vrain itself allows both the local authorities and residents to monitor the actual real- time rainfall pouring down onto a unit area.

This easy-to-use and reasonably-priced automatic system features high quality automatic rainfall measuring equipment and software.

Since its debut in 2016, Vrain has been installed at a total of more than 1,300 automatic rain gauging stations nationwide, and provided highly reliable rain measurement data for the disaster response agencies of the 63 Vietnamese cities and provinces, and a total of 110 irrigation and hydropower reservoirs across Viet Nam.

In Da Nang, this highly useful system has made its presence at 22 rain measurement stations at Ho Cau lake, Luong stream, Hoa Phu Thanh tourist area, An Trach pump station, downtown Thac Gian Lake, and more.

Chair of the Board at the WATEC Van Phu Chinh, Vrain itself was the ‘brainchild’ which he and his collogues spent much of their energy and time on designing and creating about 5 - 7 years ago.

Vrain shows off more advantages as compared to manual rain gauges as rainfall data are transferred automatically to the real-time management system.

Meanwhile, manual rain gauges are a simple tube, closed on one end and calibrated in inches to indicate the amount of liquid. A manual rain gauge must be hand-emptied after each precipitation event in order to ensure correct measurements. Rainfall amount is described as the depth of water reaching the ground, typically in inches or millimeters.

Another worth-hailing feature Vrain boasts is that it has the 220V power supply and a backup battery that works for 45-60 consecutive days during an unexpected power outage, and especially it can be connected to solar batteries in areas without electricity.

Starting from late October, meteorologists can access hourly precipitation data and rain forecasts for coming days in the 63 Vietnamese localities, and also the expected paths of storms and natural disaster scenarios at www.vrain.vn.

In addition to the website platform, the rainfall observer has its mobile app Vrain by Watec available on both iOS and Android operating systems, which allows users to know real-time rainfalls and receive warning messages on the surpassing of rainfall thresholds.

In October and November, the Office of Da Nang Steering Committee for Disaster Mitigation, and Search and Rescue called for local departments and agencies to install the Vrain software for the automatic monitor of rainfalls. 

Based on its aforementioned advantageous characteristics, Vrain shows its high scientific and practical significance in early flood warning.

PHONG LAN- Translated by A.T