Canada could avoid flood damage – if we had better flood maps GlobeDebate
. Maps in British Columbia, for instance, while available online, are of limited use thanks to impenetrable and antiquated renderings. And as Canada creates modern maps, care must be taken to outline not only fluvial flooding – rivers that inundate floodplains – but also the risk of pluvial flooding, the result of heavy rainfall in cities where aging sewers can’t handle the pounding or in rural areas when ground conditions can’t absorb a deluge of rain.
The costs of being prepared far outweigh the damage floods leave behind. One 2014 estimate suggested it would take $365-million to properly map Canada’s many floodplains. To put the number in an easy perspective, the cost of the 2017 floods in Quebec alone cost the provincial treasury $376-million – and that doesn’t count insurance claims or costs shouldered by citizens.
Maps don’t prevent floods. But by letting Canadians know where the danger zones are, and where not to build or to take extra flood precautions, they can help to prevent floods from causing such widespread property damage. In a country that is home to so much fresh water, the dearth of good flood maps is surprising, and inexcusable. Quebec is moving to fix its map deficit by 2021. The information gap needs to be remedied across Canada, and quickly.
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