New tool hopes to help municipalities better prepare for floods [Video]

A new tool aims to make it easier for Canadian municipalities to access information about flood hazards and be better prepared.

Called “The Municipal Flood Risk Check Up,” it was developed in Waterloo Region through the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation and the University of Waterloo.

“This is hopefully going to be a catalyst for action at the municipal scale,” says Joanna Eyquem, managing director of Climate-Resilient Infrastructure at the Intact Centre.

The hope is to make it easier to be prepared for Mother Nature’s forces.

“It is a broad-based assessment so that people can get to know what their flood risks are in terms of river, costal or intense rainfall risks and how they’re preparing,” added Eyquem.

The tool took two years to develop with insight from 53 people, all levels of government and multiple municipalities.

“It includes large municipalities who already are a fair way along their flood …