National Coastal Flood Risk Datasets
Environment Agency
Government
Flood and coastal risk management
Flooding caused by extremes of rainfall, river flow, tides or waves has the potential to devastate towns, cities, communities and our natural environment. Managing this natural phenomenon is essential, and the recent launch of a scientifically robust dataset to predict coastal and estuarine extremes around England, Wales and Scotland is a vital step in future flood and coastal erosion risk management.
The aim of the £485,000 project was to produce consistent, up-to-date data on design sea levels, swell wave conditions (waves generated by storms over a large distance), and tidal surges influenced by weather variations. User-friendly guidance was then developed for specialist organisations to plan successful risk-based flood and coastal erosion management.
Royal Haskoning was commissioned in 2007 by the Environment Agency, in partnership with Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Royal Haskoning’s multi-disciplinary team used its extensive national and regional experience of flood and coastal management to collect relevant scientific data. The wider Project Team, engaging specialists in coastal extremes from a number of leading organisations, then derived a bespoke statistical analysis for this project. Finally, Royal Haskoning’s GIS (Geographic Information System) specialists mapped and presented the data spatially in standard GIS database format for use by licensed organisations.