Rescue Teams Use AI to Find Victims of Deadly Texas Floods

First responders are using artificial intelligence (AI) to find drowning victims of the deadly Texas floods that thus far have claimed the lives of 136 adults and children, many of whom were in summer camp when disaster struck.

Divers are using VodaSafe’s AquaEye, a handheld AI-powered sonar device, to look for victims across nearly 100 miles of murky water.

It can be deployed instantly underwater and can scour the width of a football field in 45 seconds, said the founder and CEO, Carlyn Loncaric.

“It sends out sound pulses, just like any sonar device does,” Loncaric told local TV station KENS-TV in an interview. “When the echoes return, it analyzes them and uses AI to try to figure out which objects have a high likelihood of being a human being.”

This saves precious time compared to conventional search-and-rescue missions that have to commission a boat crew and equipment. Loncaric, an engineer who worked as a lifeguard to put herself through school, said users have told her it saves 80% to 90% of search time.

Every second counts when people are at risk of drowning, Loncaric said.

On July 4, floods engulfed central Texas as the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. Most of the casualties centered around Kerr County, specifically at a local Christian summer camp called Camp Mystic. Kerr County is about three hours west of Austin, the capital.

The current tally of the dead is 136, according to Gov. Greg Abbott, in a social media post on Wednesday (July 23), according to ABC News.

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How AquaEye Uses AI

Erik Wolfe, the company’s director of sales and marketing, told PYMNTS, “The AI built into AquaEye analyzes every object detected by the sonar, and if the object has the unique characteristics of a human body, AquaEye marks the location with an ‘X’ on its screen.”

The device is plunged underwater and sends out a sonar pulse, which echoes off objects. These echoes are compared to sonar echoes made by a human body to locate victims.

To train the AI, thousands of sonar scans were collected and used to teach the machine learning algorithms what a person “sounds like” underwater, Wolfe explained.

Importantly, Wolfe said AquaEye interprets the sonar data in real time, compared to traditional sonar systems where rescue teams have to make their own interpretation.

AquaEye is being used by first responders in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Its parent, VodaSafe, is based in Vancouver, Canada.

VodaSafe said more than 425 teams are using AquaEye in North America, including Colleton County Fire-Rescue in South Carolina; Oakland County Sheriff’s office in White Lake Township, Michigan; Ocean City Fire Department in Maryland, among many others. The total worldwide is over 500 teams.

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Photo: AquaEye