Effective flood risk visualization

The effective communication of flood risk offers the opportunity to ensure communities can adapt and respond appropriately to changing local conditions. At a time of diminishing resources, such local responses, which can empower
communities and make them more resilient to uncertain future flood events, are
vital. The most general and accessible type of flood communication are flood
risk visualisations i.e. pre-prepared emergency flood maps. However, evidence
suggests there is much we can do to improve their ability to communicate the
complexities of flood risk to a range of stakeholders. This paper considers the
development of flood risk visualisation approaches in the UK, presenting
findings from a series of targeted workshops over twelve months, where the
needs and criteria of stakeholder groups for effective flood risk visualisation
were assessed via co-creative processes. Key stakeholders included Local
Authorities, emergency responders, vulnerable homeowners, Environment Agency, business owners and, crucially, communities. These users need certain
requirements to be considered in order for future flood risk visualisation to be
effective. In particular, simplicity, a central hub of information, different visuals
available for same the datasets/problems, different maps available for different
users, consistent terminology and integrated community knowledge (e.g. local
flood groups/help).