AI flood measurement and alert system named top case at 2026 Local Government CCTV Excellence Competition — a national first
Automated disaster response links real-time AI hazard detection to on-site safety measures
Seocho-gu in Seoul, which suffered severe flooding in the autumn of 2018 when the current district administration took office, has been building out its disaster response capabilities — and the awards have followed.
The district's AI Flood Measurement and Alert System, which applies artificial intelligence to footage from public CCTV cameras, took the excellence award at the Ministry of Interior and Safety's 2026 Local Government CCTV Utilization Excellence Competition, earning the ministry's minister award.
The recognition follows Seocho-gu's top prize — the grand award — at last year's CCTV Integrated Control Center Excellence Competition, where it was honored for its smart integrated control system for disaster safety management and preemptive response. The back-to-back wins mark two consecutive years in which the district has been recognized for its achievements in CCTV utilization and smart disaster safety, again demonstrating its administrative capabilities on the national stage.
The award-winning AI Flood Measurement and Alert System is an AI-based intelligent urban safety network built to enable rapid response to flooding caused by sudden concentrated downpours and localized heavy rain. The district developed the system after record rainfall in 2022 triggered vehicle entrapments and manhole displacements near Gangnam Station, prompting officials to move beyond conventional visual monitoring toward a more precise, standardized and automated disaster response framework.
The system applies Vision AI technology to public CCTV cameras installed in flood-prone areas, monitoring and analyzing flood conditions on roads and waterways around the clock, 365 days a year. On road sections, it calculates flood depth and flow velocity using reference data such as standard tire wheel dimensions and manhole specifications. On waterway sections, it applies virtual reference water-level gauges to measure both water level and flow velocity simultaneously.
When the calculated flood indicators exceed threshold values, the system immediately notifies the officer in charge and automatically activates on-site safety equipment. In flood-risk zones, laser barriers are deployed to block vehicle entry, and when pedestrian hazards such as manhole displacement are detected, ground-projection warning messages using gobo lighting are displayed to prevent accidents before they occur.
The system earned high marks for going beyond simple CCTV footage monitoring: AI measures and assesses hazardous conditions in real time, then links its alerts directly to automated on-site response — establishing a fully automated disaster management framework for the district.
Meanwhile, the district currently operates 6,434 CCTV cameras. Of the 4,158 crime-prevention cameras directly tied to resident safety, 2,053 — or 49.4 percent — have been equipped with AI selective monitoring functions to improve control efficiency and on-site response capability.
The district has also been rolling out Edge AI CCTV cameras since April to reduce the cost of server scale-up and system construction associated with conventional server-based AI monitoring, while boosting control efficiency. Edge AI CCTV cameras analyze footage in real time at the camera itself, detect hazardous situations and transmit only the necessary information to the control center — reducing the burden of server expansion and improving selective monitoring efficiency compared with the previous method of batch-processing footage on a central server.
The district installed 33 Edge AI CCTV cameras in the first half of this year and plans to add 163 more in the second half, focusing on crime-vulnerable areas, bringing the total to 196 by year's end.
Seocho-gu District Mayor Jeon Seong-su said the award was "the fruit of our efforts to merge CCTV and AI technology to shorten the golden response time for residents' everyday safety," adding that the district would "continue to advance our smart safety framework for rapidly detecting and responding to disaster and safety risks, working to realize a 'safe city Seocho' that protects the lives and property of our residents."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
