Compendium of Flood Resilience Tools to Better Understand Your Utility’s Flood Risk

As the world continues to experience more frequent and intense extreme precipitation events due to the effects of climate change, communities and organizations need to better understand their flood risk now more than ever. To help provide awareness of local risk, Yale Climate Connections has compiled a list of 30 flood analysis tools available online for emergency managers and other stakeholders.

The tools are grouped into categories. The first category of tools offers users the ability to quickly understand immediate flood risks to their property and critical assets. The second category includes tools that allow stakeholders to visualize historical flood events in their geographic area. Other tools allow users to determine their properties elevation, to research river flooding, understand sea level rise, dam failure risk, and tools for estimating the cost of flood insurance. Many of the tools listed in the article are free and the pros and cons of each is detailed. As the First Street Foundation recently reported, larger parts of the U.S. can expect to experience “1-in-100 year flood” events, necessitating utilities plan for greater future flood impacts. Access the list of tools here.

Members are also encouraged to review the EPA resource, Flood Resilience: A Basic Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities, which is an important resource to know your flooding risk and identify practical mitigation options to protect your critical assets.