Know your flood risk, expert cautions P.E.I. homebuyers | CBC News
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P.E.I. could be doing more to help homebuyers understand the risk of flooding on properties they are buying, says an expert in climate resilient infrastructure.
Information on areas prone to coastal flooding is available on P.E.I., but Joanna Eyquem, managing director of climate resilient infrastructure with the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, would like to see it presented more prominently.
“It’s not routine for people to be checking flood plain maps when they buy a home, but I’m hoping in the future that will be much more transparent,” Eyquem told Island Morning host Laura Chapin.
“It should not be a risk that’s under the carpet. We should all be aware.”
The provincial government has developed a map that shows coastal flooding risks for all properties in the province. The map is colour-coded to show high, moderate-high and moderate-low hazard flood areas.
An additional service will provide a coastal hazard assessment for any property for free.
But Eyquem notes in the United States flood risk indicators are right on property listings. In an email to CBC News, the province said it is working in that direction.
“Disclosure of coastal hazards at the level of real estate transactions is something that Environment, Energy and Climate Action has promoted for a number of years,” the statement said.
“We have spoken with and presented to the P.E.I. Real Estate Association on this topic, and have seen an increase in uptake of Coastal Hazard Assessments in recent years.”
Disclosure is now voluntary, but that could change in coming years, the province said.
There are other risks associated with climate change that homebuyers should also be considering, said Eyquem, including risks from wildfire and from river floodplains.
The province is currently working with the federal government to identify areas prone to flooding along rivers.
Working with nature
Eyquem has been working with the province and the City of Charlottetown on flood prevention solutions.
The province needs to take a strategic approach to coastal erosion, she said, and find ways to work with nature.
“Shoreline management needs to work with natural systems,” said Eyquem.
“We look at where it’s eroding, where the sediment is going and where it’s being deposited. Localized solutions or localized hardening is not helping with the problem.”
In the city, planners need to consider how to safely drain water away during heavy rain events and, as in more rural areas, that means working with nature.
“Viewing nature as infrastructure, that’s something that we’re seeing very much more increasing in Canada,” said Eyquem.
“Seeing … swales, woodlots, rivers, wetlands as really infrastructure that is providing services to us and knowing how that works, as well as our built infrastructure.”
‘Hard decisions ahead’
Following catastrophic flooding in many parts of Canada, some homeowners are finding it increasingly expensive or even impossible to buy insurance for flooding.
The federal government is working with the Insurance Bureau of Canada to develop a program that will make insurance available to everyone. While insurance availability is important to protect some vulnerable people, said Eyquem, care needs to be taken not to encourage building, or rebuilding, in flood-prone areas.
“Not being able to get insurance or insurance being pricey is currently a risk signal to people,” she said.
“We’re fighting a rising sea and there are more storms and nature is not going to give up and go home. There’s some hard decisions ahead.”
Rather than insure, it may be a better option just to compensate people to move, said Eyquem.
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