A brand new instrument – the Municipal Flood Threat Verify-Up – launched right now by the College of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Local weather Adaptation, will assist Canadian municipalities to evaluate flood hazards, stage of flood preparedness, and actions to restrict future flood threat.
The necessity for this Verify-Up is now. Canada’s Nationwide Threat Profile, 2023, recognized that the nation isn’t prepared for flooding. 10 per cent of Canada’s housing market is uninsurable for overland flooding, and houses in flood impacted communities have offered for as much as 17 per cent much less following a flood occasion. As seen throughout floods in Nova Scotia in 2023, preparedness wouldn’t solely have restricted monetary losses, however extra importantly, 4 lives misplaced to torrential flows could have been saved.
The Verify-Up instrument was developed by 53 flood consultants over two years, together with representatives from all ranges of presidency, and the municipal insurer Intact Public Entities.
“When it comes to reducing flood risk, actions speak louder than words,” explains Joanna Eyquem, co-author of the Verify-Up and Managing Director, Local weather-Resilient Infrastructure on the Intact Centre. “Identifying a full range of actions as part of their flood risk management toolbox is challenging for many communities – that is the gap the Check-Up is designed to fill.”
Whereas all ranges of presidency have a job to play, municipalities are on the frontlines of flood threat administration. Beginning in 2024, they will apply for funding to cut back local weather dangers by way of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Inexperienced Municipal Fund. The place the Verify-Up identifies vulnerabilities, FCM funding might present assist to restrict probably expensive losses to householders and communities.
Such optimistic municipal motion aligns with a number of Nationwide Adaptation Technique targets, together with:
By 2025, 50% of Canadians have taken concrete actions to higher put together for and reply to local weather change dangers dealing with their family.
By 2027, 80% of coastal communities and 60% of companies situated in coastal areas are implementing adaptation actions to extend local weather resilience and scale back the financial impacts of local weather change.
By 2030, 80% of public and municipal organizations have factored local weather change adaptation into their decision-making processes.
“As climate change supercharges heavy rainfall events, local governments from coast to coast to coast are finding they are changing policies, infrastructure, and services in order to keep up with new realities”, stresses Carole Saab, CEO of FCM. “This tool allows local governments to benchmark their flood risk management practices against national best practices, identifying areas of strength and opportunities for improvement in the mission to keep communities safe from climate hazards.”
Municipalities can use the Verify-As much as:
Achieve an understanding of flood publicity, even the place flood mapping isn’t obtainable.
Benchmark and doc their present flood preparedness by drawing on Canadian steerage and requirements.
Doc progress in the direction of discount of municipal flood threat over time.
Entry a library of key sources on flood threat and preparedness, together with Nationwide Requirements of Canada.
Show municipal flood preparedness to events.
Prioritise actions for various flood sorts and at completely different scales.
Inform future funding planning and funding functions.
Anticipate and reply questions that could be requested by municipal insurers in growing insurance coverage insurance policies.
Contribute to goals and targets recognized in Canada’s Nationwide Adaptation Technique.
Help municipal workers and repair supply.
Sturdy instruments to restrict flood threat should not ample on their very own. Help from a number of actors, together with FCM, provincial and territorial municipal associations, requirements organizations and insurers, shall be important to encourage widespread use of the Municipal Flood Threat Verify-As much as actually make on the bottom change. The Verify-Up may additionally inform improvement of a system to incentivize neighborhood flood threat administration actions as a part of the Nationwide Flood Insurance coverage Program, introduced in federal Price range 2023.
Pushed by irreversible local weather change, flood threat will proceed to develop. The Verify-Up supplies a roadmap to cut back this threat that must be outstanding within the fiduciary toolbox of municipalities.
