Floods
During heavy or prolonged rain, streams and rivers can become raging torrents which can burst their banks to submerge the land around them. Floods are among the most common and devastating natural disasters, occurring when natural and artificial drainage systems can’t cope with a large quantity of water. Community impacts can include loss of life, injury and social disruption and economic impacts from effects from damage to property and infrastructure, damage to road and rail networks, loss of stock, and contamination of water and land - the bigger the flood, the greater the probability and severity of these impacts.
How Natural Hazards New Zealand can help:
Any flood plan first begins with an assessment of the hazard and risk your region faces. For this, Natural Hazards New Zealand can undertake hazard vulnerability studies; damage and loss assessment modelling; and economic impact studies. When your region’s flood hazard and risk has been assessed, we at the Natural Hazards New Zealand (NHNZ) cluster know that good emergency response planning; land-use planning/watershed management; and community awareness can reduce flood impacts. As you will see from our flood-related projects below, we’re already employed around the globe with this type of planning and preparedness, including several World Bank, Asia Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, NZAid and AusAID-funded initiatives. If your region does not have flood plans in place, or your plans need upgrading, we would like to help.
Click here to view some NHNZ floods projectsNatural Hazards New Zealand members and their key experts with experience on floods:
Emergency Management Academy of NZ