Integrated flood hazard management

The B.C. Government aims to reduce the impacts of flooding on people, communities and infrastructure in the province. We're committed to providing policies, regulations, guidelines, funding and useful information.

Integrated flood hazard management helps local governments, diking authorities, provincial ministries and others to

Each of these measures individually contributes to the reduction of flood risk and damage, but the most effective strategies combine all three.

In order to implement suitable protection measures, and to avoid making a problem worse or pushing the problem to another jurisdiction, we must understand the:

  • Type of flood
  • Source of flooding
  • Probability of flooding
  • Vulnerability of assets

Causes of flooding

Flooding is a common occurrence in B.C. Numerous conditions contribute to flooding, either acting alone or in combination with other flood conditions to result in more severe flood events. Floods can be caused by:

  • Climatic conditions for example, intense rainfall, rain on snow, ice jams, rapid snowmelt, storm surges
  • Geomorphic processes for example, debris flows, tsunamis, landslides
  • Structural failures for example, dike failure, dam failure
  • Human activity for example, logging, dam releases

The most common occurrences of flooding in B.C. are the result of:

  • Heavy rain and rain on snow (flash flood)
  • Freshet (melted snow)
  • High tides and strong winds (storm surge)
  • Ice jams