For the 80% of major Canadian cities in flood zones—unprepared and uninsured for billions in annual flood damage losses—a new 50-question self-assessment tool can help determine the risks of rainfall, river, or coastal flooding to aid action that limits the hazards.

The need for a flood risk check-up is urgent, with Canada’s 2023 national risk report finding that cities aren’t ready for this most common and costly disaster, the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, which created the tool, said [pdf] in a release.

The centre warns that around 10% of the housing market is uninsurable for overland flooding, while homes in communities affected by flooding have sold for “up to 17% less” after a flood event.

“As seen during floods in Nova Scotia in 2023, preparedness would not only have limited financial losses, but more importantly, four lives lost to torrential flows may have been saved.”

Surging Flooding Costs

Flooding is costing Canadians dearly: “In terms of residential flooding, the cost of risk from intense rainfall flooding, river and coastal flooding is estimated at C$2.9 billion per year,” Intact Centre writes in a report accompanying its newly-released Flood-Risk Check Up Tool. Such losses have skyrocketed from a 1983-2008 baseline when annual insured losses from flooding averaged $456 million.

“Since 2008, losses have surged and now regularly exceed $2 billion per year, mostly due to water-related damage,” Intact says. And “driven by irreversible climate change, flood risk will continue to grow.”

But the rising trend in claims is not solely due to changes in extreme weather. “Other factors, such as the loss of natural infrastructure and continued development in high-risk areas, contribute to these costs.”

The dollar damage does not end with insured losses, the report adds. “For every dollar of losses borne by insurers in Canada, an estimated three to four dollars are incurred by governments, homeowners, and business owners.” A sum of $3.4 billion in insured losses in 2022 thus represents anywhere between $10 and $13 billion in uninsured losses.

Plus, there’s the real estate fallout. Intact writes that “over the past eight years, catastrophic flooding in communities studied resulted in an average 8.2% reduction in the final sale price of houses, 44.3% reduction in the number of houses listed for sale, and 19.8% more days on market to sell a house,” all of which bodes ill for the housing market in local and regional economies.

Lack of Risk Awareness

“Approximately 83% of the Canadian population live in urban areas, and about 80% of major Canadian cities are located wholly or in part in flood zones,” writes Intact, citing Canada’s 2023 National Risk Profile to illustrate the scope of the problem. Flood risks can be reduced through “effective coordination among different levels and departments of government to manage flood risk; opportunities to accelerate and scale up the deployment of nature-based flood risk solutions; clear communication of flood risk information; greater awareness among residents of their personal flood risk.”

But Intact cites a separate 2020 survey which revealed that “94% of Canadians living in high-risk areas remain unaware of their flood risk.”

And then there is the imbalance between climate mitigation and adaptation efforts at the municipal level, with mitigation plans significantly outnumbering adaptation plans across the country.

The Check-Up Tool

Arriving just ahead of Canada’s spring flood season, the free “one-stop” Check-Up Tool is designed for all communities, regardless of their size and available resources.

Created by more than 50 flood risk experts, the municipal insurer Intact Public Entities, and all levels of government, the tool consists of 50 questions to help communities assess their exposure to potential flood hazards, and then follow up with actions to reduce the risk.

“While there is emphasis on, and benefit from, flood mapping activities to understand hazards, many ‘no-regrets’ actions to prepare for flooding and reduce risk can be undertaken without detailed flood mapping,” says Intact.

Helping users to “navigate the variety of existing standards, guidance, and tools available,” the check-up tool “focuses on the role of municipal action at multiple levels: from the localized protection of individual homes to the management of flooding processes at the watershed scale.”

“When it comes to reducing flood risk, actions speak louder than words,” tool co-author Joanna Eyquem, managing director for climate-resilient infrastructure at Intact, said in the release. “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 tool is designed to fill.”

Intact lists 10 reasons to use the tool, including the opportunity for communities to “benchmark and document their current flood preparedness by drawing on Canadian guidance and standards.”

The tool can also “inform future investment planning and funding applications” and help communities “anticipate and answer questions that may be asked by municipal insurers in developing insurance policies.”

Finally, it allows communities to contribute to key objectives of Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy:

• By 2025, “50% of Canadians have taken concrete actions to better prepare for and respond to climate change risks facing their household.”

• By 2027, “80% of coastal communities and 60% of businesses located in coastal regions are implementing adaptation actions to increase climate resilience and reduce the economic impacts of climate change.”

• By 2030, “80% of public and municipal organizations have factored climate change adaptation into their decision-making processes.”