Tools to Assess Flood Risk of Commercial Property Investment

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Coastal flooding is an increasing problem for industries and property owners. Adaptation measures must be implemented by industries that are in flood prone areas and tools to assess flood risk need to be developed to assist companies deciding where to invest. Many coastal communities in Nova Scotia are located at the mouth of major rivers, which make them particularly vulnerable to flooding as sea-level rises. Liverpool, Nova Scotia is one of these communities. Located on the coast where the Mersey River drains into the Atlantic Ocean, Liverpool has areas that have recently seen flooding, possibly from the confluence of overland and storm surge flooding. Parsons Investments Ltd. owns commercial properties in Liverpool which have been damaged due to flooding from the Mersey Estuary in recent years, and are potentially susceptible to combined overland and storm surge flooding. The company is looking to develop tools to investigate mitigation options, and provide a greater understanding of flooding potential for future property development and coastal investments. NSCC's Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG) will explore new remote sensing technology (airborne topographic-bathymetric lidar) to assist Parsons Investments in determining the susceptibility of its assets in Liverpool to flooding as well as Liverpool's downtown area, and propose adaptation strategies. Specifically, AGRG will acquire topo-bathymetric lidar for a section of the Mersey River from Liverpool to the outlet where it drains into the Atlantic Ocean to use as input elevation data for a flood model. The new lidar sensor, owned by NSCC, is capable of surveying the river channel bathymetry and Liverpool's land topography, capturing seamless elevation data along the critical land-water boundary. Also, a large scale model for the study site will be constructed and run to investigate past and potential flood events in the future changing climate (ie. sea-level rise). These results will assist Parsons Investments and the other stakeholders in the town and investment community in understanding coastal vulnerability regarding this area and future investment opportunities, and investigate the benefits of using detailed channel bathymetry in flood risk prediction.