What’s Your Flood Risk Tolerance?
1. The Reality: Flooding Is Canada’s Costliest Natural Disaster
- Floods cost Canadians over $2 billion per year in property damage — making them the #1 natural disaster in the country;
- More than 1.5 million homes are located in high-risk flood zones, including in 80% of Canadian municipalities;
- Major events have underlined this reality:
• In July 2024, Toronto received nearly 10 cm of rain in 3 hours, leading to $1 billion in insured damages;
• In October 2024, a strong atmospheric river caused $110 million in damage in British Columbia;
• Hurricane Debby (August 2024) caused severe basement flooding across Montreal, Ottawa, and surrounding suburbs, triggering hundreds of millions in losses.
2. How Much Risk Can You Tolerate?
Flood risk tolerance is personal and depends on three key factors:
- Exposure – Do you live near a river, lake, or water bowl area or in a city with poor drainage infrastructure?
- Assets at Risk – What’s the financial cost of damage if a flood occurs? A flooded basement cost $40,000 on average.
- Protection – Do you have the insurance or savings to recover quickly?
Are you financially and psychologically prepared to live with the consequences of a flood?
3. Aid is insufficient even though data is improving. Prevention and action remain essential!
Canada’s federal Flood Hazard Identification and Mapping Program (FHIMP) is investing $164 million (2024–2028) to provide detailed flood risk maps across the country. Over 1,000 risk maps have already been published, with many available to the public through municipal or provincial websites.
Financial incentives offered to citizens by municipalities, governments and insurers are in their infancy, leaving citizens in a gray area with high levels of stress.
4. Four Key Steps to Increase Your Resilience
| Step | What to Do |
| 1. Know Your Zone | Use municipal or federal flood maps to assess your home’s flood exposure. |
| 2. Review Your Insurance | Only 10–15% of Canadian homes have overland flood insurance. Call your insurer to verify. |
| 3. Prevent Water Entry | Equip your doors, windows and garages: submersible pump, check valve, generator, threshold raisers, drain cleaning, etc. |
| 4. Install a Flood Barrier | FlowStop offers custom-fit airbags that are proven to be effective and can be deployed in 1–5 minutes. |
5. Why Choose FlowStop?
- Rapid Deployment – Ready in under 5 minutes, no tools required.
- Custom Fit – Tailored to your doors, windows, and garage dimensions.
- Reusable & Eco-Friendly – Reusable, replaces ineffective and polluting sandbags.
- Proven Performance – Tested against pressure, debris, and high-flow events by the National Research Council of Canada.
- Cost-Effective – Every dollar spent on protection can save up to $7 in damage costs.
In Summary: Know, Act, Protect
Your flood risk tolerance isn’t just about probability — it’s about how well you’re prepared.
• Know your risk using official maps.
• Act now by securing insurance and making small upgrades.
• Protect your home with FlowStop — the fast, reusable flood barrier designed for Canadian homes.
Sources:
- Flood Fact Sheet Canadian Climate Institute (2024), wikipedia.org
- Flood risk and income vulnerability Statistics Canada (2025) www150.statcan.gc.ca
- Flood Hazard Identification and Mapping Program Government of Canada, FHIMP natural-resources.canada.ca
- Insurance Bureau of Canada https://www.ibc.ca/
