Squamish Integrated Flood Hazard Management Plan

Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd.

Squamish, BC

In 2014, the District of Squamish retained Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd. to lead a ground-breaking, three-year study to assess and mitigate an extensive range of overlapping flood hazards. The resulting Integrated Flood Hazard Management Plan looks beyond traditional floodplain mapping to systematically consider the interplay of physical, economic, social, and environmental risks. The IFHMP identifies an array of mitigation choices that balance the need for flood protection with impacts to stakeholders, the community, and the environment. The project’s engineering innovations include Western Canada’s most detailed floodplain-scale hydraulic model as well as a GIS-based method for generalizing dike breach model results to account for all possible breach locations. The project also takes an unprecedented comprehensive approach to incorporating future development, and anticipated key aspects of the World Meteorological Organization’s 2017 guidelines for Integrated Flood Management.