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Both the provincial government of New Brunswick and the federal government have announced their plan to invest in the flood-hazard mapping of the province.
Last week, the governments revealed their $1.14 million project to produce two flood maps – one for inland areas and the other for the coastline – as part of NB’s Climate Change Action Plan.
“The projects announced today will help the Province of New Brunswick better prepare for and prevent the effects of flooding,” said federal emergency preparedness minister Ralph Goodale in a release on June 28.
The maps will be used to help predict storm surge risks, rising sea levels, and wave effects. Both maps are not just guides for established properties, but for planned ones as well.
Coastal Zones Research Institute project manager and researcher Mélanie Aubé told CBC News that while the data collected for the project can be used in the form of a map, it can also be entered into a database for engineers and land-use planners to better assess future flood risk.
“It can identify the roads that are going to be flooded and may be not accessible — even how high the water can be relative to the height of a building or the road,” Aubé explained. “So, you can plan on how high a certain infrastructure needs to be to not be at risk.”
The coastal maps are set to be released early 2019, while the inland maps are expected to be available early 2020.
