An AI forecasting system predicts river floods in ungauged basins at multi-day lead times (up to 5 to 7 days) and delivers free public warnings. It is now operational in more than 80 countries and reaches roughly 460 million people, turning a forecast into time to move. Caveat: a 2026 reanalysis (Li et al., Journal of Hydrology X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hydroa.2026.100215) argues the originally reported accuracy is overstated, especially for extreme events and in gauged basins. We surface the debate on purpose.