The City of Helsinki will prepare a stormwater flood risk assessment covering the entire city area, which aims to identify significant stormwater flood areas as well as other areas susceptible to stormwater flooding. The goal of the investigation is to reduce the damage caused by stormwater floods and improve safety.
As part of the investigation, the city collects residents' observations of places where flooding due to heavy rainfall or melting snow has occurred. Minor ponding during or after rain is not considered to be stormwater flooding. The observations obtained through the survey will be used for the preliminary assessment of stormwater flood risks of the City of Helsinki, as well as for the identification and definition of flood-prone areas.
Residents can share their experiences of storm water flooding through the Voice your opinion service(Link leads to external service). The survey will close on 31 July.
In urban areas, stormwater flooding situations caused by heavy rain are expected to increase due to climate change.
Stormwater flood risk management planning is a statutory task of municipalities that is repeated every six years, the first stage of which is the preliminary assessment of stormwater flood risks. Based on the assessment, significant risk areas for stormwater floods are identified if there are any. When assessing the significance of the flood risk, the probability of flooding and the possible harmful consequences of flooding are taken into account. No significant stormwater flood risk areas have yet been designated in Finland.