Flood prediction applications and techniques

We are preparing a multi-disciplinary project for industrial-academic research in the UK. The quality of flood prediction is quite poor - geographic granularity can be no less than tens or hundreds of metres. Also, advance warning on flood risk due to surface water flow from unregulated regions is predicated on real-time data, which excludes satellites. So, as we complete our proposal preps I'm looking for evidence or working concepts, applications, models etc which are in use and are providing as close-to-real-time prediction and advance warning as possible.