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

September is associated, presently, with the greatest number of flood events in the
inventory representing about 26% of the records.
December is also a significant storm event month with 10% of the documented storm
occurrence.
The remainder of the months experience less than 10% storm occurrence each.
Flood events occur to the greatest extent in the winter, fall, and spring.
Causes of Flooding
The primary causal event for flooding in the province is rainfall associated with 58% of
the flood events documented in the inventory.
Flood events resulting from rainfall occur somewhat evenly over the year.
Flood events resulting with coastal phenomena are the second most common occurring
most frequently in the fall and winter.
Flood events resulting from rainfall or coastal phenomena represent 76% of the flood
events documented in the inventory.
Flooded Communities
The inventory documents flood events at ninety-eight (98) communities in the province.
St. John‟s has had the most reported floods with seventy-three (73), or about 11% of the
documented floods in the inventory.
Stephenville, Corner Brook, Deer Lake and Placentia have all reported multiple floods.
There has only been one reported flood in Labrador
2.5 Recommendations for Update of the Flood Events Inventory
The following recommendations stem from the effort to update the Flood Events Inventory:
1. It is recommended that WRMD endeavor to include flood events which occurred earlier than
1950 in the Inventory with the next Flood Events Inventory update. The selection of the
period of 1950 to 2011 was selected by WRMD as it was felt that prior to confederation
there would be limited data available. Many flood events pre-dating 1950 are documented
in the same source data collections used for this update effort. Please refer to the inventory
for a list of these sources. Having these events included may assist in better
defining/understanding the long-term cyclical nature of storm events in the Province.
2. It is recommended that some consideration be given to splitting the „Types of Event‟ field
into primary and secondary (and perhaps even tertiary) causal factors. This would allow for
consolidation of entries within a more concise listing of primary/secondary causes and
perhaps better understanding of the nature of flood events.
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