Under one umbrella: Practical approaches for reducing flood risks in Canada

Practical solutions outlined in these guidelines and standards can be deployed today to limit and/or mitigate flood risks in Canada. These solutions range from simple home maintenance and renovations to more sophisticated community-planning approaches and regulations, business-wide activities, and infrastructure upgrades. The purpose of this report is to profile these solutions in a consolidated form — under one “umbrella” — so that Canadians can put them into action.

Since approximately 2010, flooding has emerged as the costliest extreme weather disaster affecting Canadians, leading to increases in disaster-assistance payouts by federal, provincial and territorial governments, and in insurable and uninsurable losses. Additionally, the burden on the mental health of Canadians who have experienced losses from flooding is increasingly evident.

The technical knowledge regarding ways to limit Canada’s vulnerability to flooding is robust. However, what has been lacking – until now – is a summary of practical actions that stakeholders in Canada can undertake to materially improve flood resilience in their homes, businesses and communities.