Key information
- Date(s)
- Location
- Mandra, Greece
- Attendance type
- Face-to-face
Description
On 7 October 2026, UNICORN’s flood forecasting service was presented at the event “Protecting Mandra from Floods: Scientific Innovation and Operational Management” bringing together local and regional authorities, emergency services, volunteers and researchers in #Mandra, #Greece, the project’s flood use case area.
Charalampos (Haris) Kontoes , Head of BEYOND Centre IAASARS/ NOA, introduced the broader scientific and operational capabilities supporting this work.
Alexandros Konis presented the two-day flood forecasting and automated flood mapping service developed through UNICORN, showing how earth observation, ground-based measurements and modelling can support preparedness and operational awareness.
Fellow FloodHUB researchers Vasiliki Pagana, Alexia Tsouni and George Koutsos presented complementary developments in flood risk assessment, monitoring, early warning and decision support.
Opening remarks were delivered by Armodios Drikos, Mayor of Mandra–Eidyllia; Polychronis Bairaktaris, Deputy Regional Governor for Civil Protection; Athanasia Papaspyrou, Deputy Regional Governor for Western Attica; Major General Vikentios Marinakis, Coordinator of Attica Firefighting Operations; and Spyros Vasilakos, President of NOA.
Contributions from regional services and volunteer organisations, followed by an open discussion, highlighted the importance of connecting scientific tools with practitioners’ needs across the disaster risk management chain.
Earlier that morning, a flood evacuation drill at the 2nd Primary School of Mandra put preparedness into practice. Supported by BEYOND / NOA, the Municipality of Mandra–Eidyllia and the Thriasio Pedio Volunteer Association, students and teachers evacuated the school and travelled by municipal buses to a designated safe location. The school’s selection, evacuation route and safe location drew on BEYOND’s flood risk assessment under the Programme Agreement between NOA and the Region of Attica.
UNICORN is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe, with support from EUSPA - EU Agency for the Space Programme
