Flooding Doesn't Impact Everyone Equally
Although flooding affects everyone, some residents may be more vulnerable to the impacts of flooding, including people:
- With health issues or disabilities
- Over the age of 65
- Who are poor or living on a low income
- From ethnic or racial minority communities
Populations experiencing marginalization and social vulnerability tend to face greater flood exposure and have the potential to be more severely impacted by flood hazards. Socioeconomic impacts of flooding are also anticipated to continue to worsen with increases in urban development, population growth, and worsening extreme weather, thereby magnifying these disproportional impacts.
To learn more about flood vulnerability, visit the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's web page on vulnerability. The Canadian Institute for Climate Choices also has a blog post summarizing new research on how flood risk assessments can incorporate socioeconomic vulnerability. Some of this research was adapted by the Region of Durham in recent flood risk assessment work.
