The Future Risk of Flooding

The recent devastating floods in central Europe, in parts of America and in New Zealand have obviously led many people to wonder about how susceptible their homes are to flooding. One consequence of global heating and rising sea levels are that flood risks are increasing across the world and the kind of lethal floods seen in Belgium and Germany over the last week are going to become much more common.

Climate Risk's Coastal Risk Map allows you to view your risk from projected sea level rise and coastal flooding by year, water level, and by elevation.Share your location with the Coastal Risk Map and you can view the potential flood risk for different years and for different levels of sea level rise. Climate Central's Risk Zone Map provides additional data for the United States and most Caribbean nations on which populations, infrastructure, and land are most in danger from sea level rise and coastal flooding.

If you don't live by the coast then you can explore your flood risks on the Flood Factor interactive map. Last year the First Street Foundation published their study into flooding risk in the United States. The nonprofit organization also released an online tool that can tell you the current flood risk for your home and how that risk may increase due to environmental and climate change.

If you enter your address or zip-code into Flood Factor you can view a detailed report into whether your area has flooded in the past, the current local flooding conditions and the future risk of flooding. Interactive maps are used by Flood Factor to show the local areas most at risk of flooding and the severity of that risk.

In many countries around the world government agencies provide flood risk maps. The UK government's Long Term Flood Risk Map for England, for example, provides an overview of the chances that any location in England will flood in any year. It shows the chances of flooding from either surface water, groundwater or from rivers or the sea. 

In the USA FEMA's Flood Map Service allows you to view a flood risk map for any address in the country. Enter your address into the Flood Map Service and it will automatically generate a flood risk map, showing you where there are current and future flood risks in the area. The map also provides an overall assessment of the level of flood risk in the area.