Our 2018 Annual report (PDF) highlights who we are, where we've been, and where we're headed. Please read and share!
Floods happen. How can our communities weather the storm?
In the face of a changing climate and extreme weather, the goal of Partners for Action (P4A) is to advance flood resiliency in Canada. Experts agree that extreme weather is a serious problem; we must act now to make our communities resilient by reducing risk, and putting plans in place to recover quickly should extreme weather impact Canadian communities.
Across Canada, damage from extreme weather has cost taxpayers and insurers almost $10 billion since 1998. Water-related damage is now the leading cause of home-insurance claims in many communities, large and small. Municipal governments, the insurance industry, researchers, and the public are coming together to better understand what we can do to lower that number in the future, and focus on preventing flood damage, rather than cleanup.
Partners for Action is an applied research network dedicated to reducing the risk of flood damage in Canadian communities.
We can work together to build more flood-resilient communities. We invite you to join us.
What is a resilient community?
Flood resiliency involves the promotion of flood awareness and preparedness, as well as strategies to adapt to and to prevent flooding events.
A resilient community uses a combination of structural (such as dams and berms) and non-structural (such as policies, plans, and procedures) adaptation strategies and learns from past disasters in order to minimize the impacts of flooding and recover quickly.
News
- Feb. 20, 2019P4A receives renewed funding from The Co-operators: Canadian collaboration for flood risk awareness gains ground
New funding promises enhanced collaboration between government, industry, researchers and Canadians to improve flood resilience across the country.
- Feb. 1, 2019Jason Thistlethwaite joins P4A as Associate Director, sharing expertise on flood risk governance
Partners for Action (P4A) is pleased to welcome Jason Thistlethwaite as Associate Director. - Sep. 25, 2018Article: Helping neighbourhoods weather the storm
P4A was recently featured in the Faculty of Environment's newsletter ENVision. Learn more about how the network was created by a University of Waterloo alumna and how P4A is working to mitigate the impacts of flooding.
Blog
- Feb. 5, 2019Flooding in Canadian Rural Communities
Rural flooding occurs across Canada causing serious impacts on communities and creating the need for expenses to repair damages and to create defenses for future events. Projects and efforts following serious floods in recent years have greatly increased rural communities’ resiliency to flooding. Compared to city centres, rural areas tend to be remote and do not have the same financial or social capital available. As such, methods used in cities to mitigate floods cannot be applied to rural areas as these communities are unique and have their own needs and governance structures.
- Jan. 8, 2019Spotlight Story: Windsor, Ontario
Over the years, the City of Windsor has experienced serious floods due to heavy rainfall and as a result has implemented a variety of projects to mitigate flood risk. With a number of programs that offer residents important information and enable them to tackle flood risk, Windsor is developing into a city that is well-equipped for flooding.
- Dec. 10, 2018Property-level flood defences and how they work
There are numerous defences available to prepare your home for floods. Solutions employed both inside or outside your house can be extremely useful in a flooding event and can greatly reduce the stress involved in managing flood risks and damages. These flood defences are often listed on municipal websites or in articles that cover flooding. As a homeowner, it may be useful or interesting to learn about their functions a bit more and how they work.
