Real-time rain-gauge and stream-gauge data provide the foundation of metropolitan flood warning
systems. The NWS (1997) has described automated local flood warning systems (LFWS). A popular
LWFS known as ALERT (Automated Local Evaluation in Real Time) was originally developed
by the National Weather Service in Sacramento, California. ALERT gauges transmit via wireless
radio signals to a base station located at the agency headquarters (and other similar base stations).
Through this system, real-time rainfall and stream stages are monitored remotely for an entire
metro region. In addition to real-time data, the base station software also archives all data so that