Event Details
Flooding continues to pose significant risks to communities across Canada, underscoring the need for practical, actionable approaches at the municipal level.
“Flooding is Canada’s most expensive climate hazard.”
- Carole Saab, CEO, Federation of Canadian Municipalities
“Flooding is the most common and costly disaster in Canada. In the past decade, floods have averaged nearly $800 million in insured losses annually.”
- Insurance Bureau of Canada (2024)
Join us on Thursday, March 12 at 2 p.m. ET to explore how municipalities can move from understanding flood risk to taking action. Through applied tools and a case study from the City of Kitchener, you will learn how to assess flood risks in your community and begin integrating flood resilience into plans and projects.
What you’ll gain
- Strategies for embedding flood resilience into municipal plans, processes and projects.
- Real-world examples from the City of Kitchener that demonstrate long-term outcomes and tangible co-benefits of flood resilience investments.
- A clearer understanding of how a structured framework can be used to assess community-wide flood risk, establish baseline risk levels and monitor progress over time.
Featured tools and resources
- Municipal Flood Risk Check-Up - Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation: a self-assessment tool that helps communities better understand and manage local flood risks.
- Build flood resilience with our video training series: a free, one-hour video training series to help municipal staff use the Municipal Flood Risk Check-Up tool developed by the GMF and the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo.
The spotlight resource highlights a tool designed for heavy rainfall, river and coastal flooding, and the role of municipal action at multiple levels, including both large- and small-scale flood management.
This session is designed for municipal staff across diverse departments, elected officials and municipal partners. No prior adaptation strategy or completed risk assessment is required.
Speakers:
- Chris Nechacov, Design and Construction Project Manager, Sanitary and Stormwater Utilities, City of Kitchener, ON
- Dr. Anabela Bonada, Managing Director, Climate Science, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo
- Kathryn Bakos, Managing Director, Finance and Resilience, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo
The webinar will be delivered in English with simultaneous interpretation in French (SI).