Flood Risk and Vulnerability Analysis Project - Atlantic Climate ...

Figure 5-3. Storm tracks for select 2010 hurricanes (Unisys Weather,
2011). Igor is shown in blue and Earl is shown in pink.
5.4.1 Community Vulnerability to Direct Impacts of Flooding
Direct impacts are defined as damages to life, property, employment, and critical facilities
resulting from inundation by flood waters. In order to assess the impacts to personal injury or
life, Canadian census data (Statistics Canada, 2012) were obtained and mapped in a GIS.
Given the lack of infrastructure and property data in a usable spatial format, the Flood Events
Inventory and community flood risk maps were examined for instances of flooded and/or
damaged infrastructure. Additionally, ancillary GIS data such as terrain, imagery, and roads
(Canadian Council, March 2, 2012) were analysed.
For example, Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove is located along the eastern coast of the Avalon
Peninsula, south of St. John‟s (Figure 5-4). The Flood Events Inventory contains reports of
damaged wharves, flooded basements, and a flooded senior citizens home. In examination of
the area in the GIS, we see that much of the community infrastructure is located along the
harbour, but the flood risk map (Dept. of Energy and Conservation, 2012) shows relatively few
resources in the 1:20 year flood zone.
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