NRCAN Leading Initiative to Increase Canada’s Resilience to Flooding
Geomatic Services Playing Key Role in Initiative
On March 1, 2022, Brian Perry, Engineering Advisor for flood modeling with Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) and Canada’s Centre for Mapping and Earth Observations, spoke during a livestream during GeoIgnite, Winter Geo conference. A new mapping program to increase Canada’s resilience to flooding was introduced by Perry.
The Flood Hazard Identification and Mapping Program (FHIMP) is designed to create flood hazard data and maps for those areas of high priority across Canada, working with territorial and provincial jurisdictions. The program will also have accessible mapping products available to all Canadians.
Brian Perry, Engineering Advisor for flood modeling with NRCAN
NRCAN has a strong role in flood mapping and is a leader in geomatics and remote sensing, using geomatic services to gather imagery, and develop data sets crucial to flood mapping techniques. NRCAN also aids in flood response through geomatic services.
Perry explained how high quality, current, and accessible flood maps are essential to help Canadians understand the risks of floods, and help create effective solutions. He discussed how the strategies that come from this program will help reduce flooding and its impacts.
The FHIMP is a joint initiative. NRCAN is leading the program and is supported by Public Safety and Environment and Climate Change Canada. In the 2021 Budget, the government set 145.5 Billion for initiatives to promote a healthy environment for a healthy economy. This includes dealing with natural hazards such as wildfires and flooding, both are becoming more intense and frequent due to Climate change and urban development.
Perry discussed the FHIMP’s activities, including data acquisition, flood assessment, hazard assessment, and map production. Flood mapping projects under the FHMP initiative must meet considerations, requirements, and criteria.
For those interested, the Canadian Centre for Remote Sensing, a subgroup of NRCAN, along with the CSA, ESA, and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, produced MOOC, a Massive Open Online Course showing Canadian SAR Applications.
An informative Q and A session followed Perry’s GeoIgnite, Winter Geo livestream. You can watch this talk on Youtube below.
