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

watershed, which appears to already benefit from a significant forecasting effort (Department of
Environment and Conservation, 2011).
Communities with the lowest priority are Cold Brook, Daniel‟s Harbour, Ferryland, Gambo,
Grand Falls, Goulds, Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove, New-wes-valley, and Port Blandford. Of
these lowest priority communities, Daniel‟s Harbour, New-wes-valley, and Ferryland lie in past
hurricane storm tracks. Cold Brook would also benefit from any forecasting or warning efforts
initiated for Stephenville.
Identifying Flood Vulnerability Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies
If we could simply move all flood prone infrastructure out of the way of floods, the development
of a Flood Management Strategy would be simple. However, this is not the case and flood
susceptible infrastructure does and will continue to reside in the flood plain. As such, an
integrated strategy is required that will stipulate the WRMD‟s goals, objectives and actions to
reduce the vulnerability of the Province to effects of floods but which recognize the size of
individual communities, their flood vulnerabilities, and the potential for loss of both life and
property.
These Integrated Flood Management (IFM) plans depend critically on the hydrological and
hydraulic characteristics of the subject river system and region. A decision matrix was
developed integrating the three linked factors that determined which strategy or combination of
strategies is likely to be appropriate in a particular river basin, namely: the climate, the basin
characteristics and the socio-economic conditions in the region.
Mitigation strategies, organized into Structural and Non-Structural categories, were presented
for eleven Sub-regions of Newfoundland. These strategies represent a first set of options for
communities to consider towards reduction of flood risk, minimization of flood damages and
threats to public safety, and to expedite the post-flood recovery process.
TA1112733
viii