Flood Info in Ireland

Organisation type

Public administration at national level

Use case area

Environment

Geographic scope

Ireland

Domain

Environment

Challenge:

Ireland's extensive coastline and numerous rivers make it susceptible to coastline and riverine flooding, even more so as the impacts of climate change continue to mount up. The Office of Public Works (OPW) in Ireland has responsibility for leading and coordinating a whole of Government approach to the implementation of the national flood policy.

Approach:

As part of their approach to flood risk management, the OPW created Floodinfo.ie, a one-stop flood information data hub that allows users to access a range of flood maps for specific locations and information about past flood events.The Flood Maps indicate areas that may be prone to flooding, which may be of use to construction planners, emergency response planners, developers, and other sectors and people concerned about flood risk. Floodinfo.ie was launched after a three-phase process. First, a Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) was held in 2012. This was a national screening exercise which considered existing information about flood risk sources. Next, in consultation with local authorities and leveraging support from engineering consultants, the OPW embarked on an extensive and detailed analysis to assess and map the risk of floodings. These maps were informed by public consultation, including a statutory consultation in November 2015. Finally, a series of 29 Flood Risk Management Plans were prepared, setting out proposed structural and non-structural measures to manage flood risk. They were published in 2016 for public consultation and informed the final plans, as approved by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Shortly after, FloodInfo.ie was launched in late 2017.

Outcomes:

The most recent statistics available show that FloodInfo.ie received approximately 104,000 visits in 2020. That same year, EUR 1 billion was invested in flood risk management, resulting in EUR 1.8 billion of damage avoided, the protection of 10,000 properties, the identification of 300 communities as being at risk of flooding, and proposals for over 100 new flood relief schemes. In 2020, 95% of properties that were assessed were protected from flooding. While it isn't possible to say that these benefits are directly linked to the launch of FloodInfo.ie, there were nonetheless positive impacts from the government's renewed focus on flood risk management, and the website is an integral part of that data-driven, modern approach. Data from FloodInfo.ie can bring about meaningful change to communities in Ireland. For example, the OPW granted funding to remove debris and prune trees causing restrictions on the River Nore in South Laois covering an area of approximately 3.5km. These restrictions increased the susceptibility of the area to localised flooding. Applications for the project were submitted to the OPW and reviewed alongside the available flood risk data to assess whether the project should be granted funding.

Data Sources:

Data is sourced from various sources on a pull- and push-basis. GeoHive.ie, Ireland’s National Geospatial Data Hub, and is provided to the hub by various public sector bodies such as Tailte Éireann, the Environmental Protection Agency, Ordinance Survey Ireland. It is built using the ArcGIS Online Platform, which allows users to save and share customised visualisations of the data from the GeoHive Data Catalogue, using the Create Map function. Additionally, national screening exercises, consultations with public authorities and engineering consultants, public consultations and statutory consultations are leveraged to gather data. Third parties can upload data providing they meet certain standards to ensure consistency and integration with the OPW’s GIS. Submitted datasets become part of the permanent archive and support the National Flood Data Repository. The standard covers all spatial data for the OPW enterprise GIS, excluding aerial photography, LiDAR, survey data, or PDF maps. Data must meet ISO 19157 quality standards, with specific guidelines for vector and raster data quality and consistency. Ownership of data lies with the Client, with unrestricted use extended to the OPW.

Additional information:

Point of Contact:

floodinfoopw [dot] ie (floodinfo[at]opw[dot]ie)