Filling the Gaps: ELDES X-Band Radar Supports Flood Forecasting in Vietnam

Gap filling: the most underrated job in flood forecasting.

Three C-band weather radars already cover the basin in central Vietnam. Terrain and radar geometry still leave some sectors only partially monitored.

A Belgian-Vietnamese cooperation project is addressing this with an ELDES WR-10X X-band radar, designed to complement the existing network.

ELDES, HydroScan, and VDDMA, Vietnam’s Disaster and Dike Management Authority, met in Da Nang on June 18-19 to discuss the final deployment phase. Installation is scheduled at the College of Technology, Economics and Irrigation in Hoi An by the end of July.

What it adds:

✅ High-resolution rainfall data over areas with limited coverage
✅ Continuous monitoring of storm evolution across the basin
✅ Real-time data for the Flood4Cast forecasting platform

Rain gauges remain central to the system. They calibrate both C-band and X-band radar observations, supporting accuracy across the network.

Together, the three technologies form one complementary system:

📡 C-band radar: wide-area coverage
📡 X-band radar: high-resolution gap filling
🌧️ Rain gauges: calibration and validation

The result: a more complete picture of rainfall, and more time for early warning.