Water Stewardship

Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response

To report a flood emergency please phone 1-800-663-3456
(Connects to the Provincial Emergency Program
Emergency Coordination Centre, Victoria)

Only 60 centimetres of water can cause a car to be swept away, and as little as 15 centimetres of water can cause unstable footing.

Unless appropriate steps are taken to protect ourselves and the environment, flooding can cause many serious problems including property damage, loss of land due to erosion, serious health hazards and in extreme cases even death. Flood water can also be heavily contaminated with sewage and other pollutants, such as pesticides, oil or chemical waste.

For information on Personal Flood Preparedness, Prevention And Recovery
For information on Floodwater Hazards
For information on Sandbag Dike Construction

Local and Provincial Government Responsibilities for Flood Emergency Management

Local Authorities, as described under the Emergency Program Act, respond first to emergency situations within their jurisdictions and must have an emergency plan in place to keep citizens, infrastructure and the community as safe as possible.

Local Authorities respond first to assist the people they represent and generally are in the best position for immediate response.

The British Columbia Provincial Government (the Province) is committed to supporting Local Authorities and effectively managing natural hazard events in the most efficient and appropriate manner. The level of provincial support depends in general upon the magnitude of the event, its potential for expanding, and the need to support local activities.

The BC Flood Plan describes the methodology the Province will utilize for coordinating activities to manage response to a flood event. This includes laying the foundation for describing a flood event, the structure to be utilized, and the general expectations for roles and responsibilities of other levels of government, provincial ministries and agencies and other stakeholder groups.

For further information see the BC Flood Plan [pdf].

Dike Locations

The location of most flood protection structures can be found on maps at the following links:

GPS Location Maps for Flood Protection Works in BC for the whole province (flood protection layer); and
Lower Mainland Dike and Emergency Maps for more detailed maps of the Lower Mainland.

For more information on flood protection structures see the Dike Safety page.

The Flood Planning and Response Guide for British Columbia, 1999, has been developed to assist Local Authorities and Diking Authorities prepare a flood response plan to guide activities during flood events. (Due to the large size of the document, it has been broken into 15 files for ease of access):

Part 1 — Flood Planning (2.6MB)
Chapter 2 (1.7MB)
Chapter 3 (5.2MB)
Chapter 4 (3.5MB)
Appendix A (1MB)
Appendix B (1.6MB)
Appendix C (1.4MB)
Part 2 — Flood Response (1.1MB)
Local Flood Response Plan Template (1.8MB)
Supplementary Plan Information (3.6MB)
Relevant Plan Information (4.9MB)
Flood Response Plan Resources (1.4MB)
Flood Response Plan Procedures (632kb)
Flood Response Information (3.1MB)
Flood Response Practices (6.3MB)

NB: In this document, the former Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks is now the Ministry of Environment. The former Ministry of Attorney General – Provincial Emergency Program is now the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General – Provincial Emergency Program. Also, the former Water Management Branch is now the Flood Hazard Management Section, Water Stewardship Division.

For further emergency information see the Provincial Emergency Program Website

Flooding Precautions
BC Flood Plan
Local Authority Planning Guide
BC Tsunami Warning Plan
BC Strategy and Legislation
Disaster Recovery Guides

Contact Us: Water.Stewardship@gov.bc.ca

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