Floods

Decisions about how we adapt to sea-level rise need to be based on information about our exposure to coastal flooding.

NIWA is developing a national river flow forecasting tool for New Zealand that aims to support and strengthen our planning for and response to extreme rainfall events.

This five-year NIWA-led research programme is developing a system to map flood hazard consistently across the whole country. It will reveal how our flood risk might change over the next 100 years because of changes to rainfall and sea level from climate change, as well as due to land-use changes.

A new online tool that identifies areas at risk from groundwater flooding has been developed by New Zealand scientists.

Research projects carried out under the Future Coasts programme

A serious game simulating a coastal lowland scenario under climate change to support adaptation decision-making and community engagement.

A risk screening tool that identifies the presence-absence of shallow groundwater.

NIWA is using machine learning to forecast flood inundation in a fraction of the time required to run physical models. 

Floods are New Zealand’s most frequent and costly natural disaster. Fast and accurate forecasting of flood impacts is crucial for reducing the risk to life, property, and infrastructure.

Welcome to the NIWA Township Flood Challenge game.

NIWA has launched a $5 million per year package of new projects aiming to tackle some of New Zealand’s most pressing challenges, including responding to and preparing for extreme weather events.

New maps from NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge show areas across Aotearoa New Zealand that could be inundated by extreme coastal flooding.