Flooding

Latest news

NIWA has launched a $5 million per year package of new projects aiming to tackle some of New Zealand’s most pressing challenges, including responding to and preparing for extreme weather events.
New maps from NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge show areas across Aotearoa New Zealand that could be inundated by extreme coastal flooding.
NIWA meteorologists say last week’s atmospheric river (AR), which was responsible for widespread devastation in both the North and South Islands, was a record-breaker.
Climate change means more intense storm systems are on their way. Science can’t stop it raining, but it can help communities prepare for the worst and plan for the future.

Our work

This research project aims to establish connections between weather and river flow forecasting, inundation prediction, and the associated risks to people and assets, using the RiskScape platform.

Latest videos

Mā te haumaru ō nga puna wai ō Rākaihautū ka ora mo ake tonu: Increasing flood resilience across Aotearoa

This five-year NIWA-led research programme is developing a system to map flood hazard consistently across the whole country. It will reveal how our flood risk might change over the next 100 years because of changes to rainfall and sea level from climate change, as well as due to land-use changes. Find out more.

Edgecumbe Flood Damage

NIWA and GNS scientists recently visited Edgecumbe to assess flood damage in the area. In this video, local residents show the flood impacts on property, and hazards engineer Kate Crowley talks about flood scenario research.

Welcome to Freshwater Update 54. This issue features some of the latest work from our Freshwater and Estuaries teams, Water Quality maps and information and  River flow maps for Autumn.

Latest news from the centre includes: Float your boat! Scientists use hi-tech miniature Q-boat to measure river flows 

Welcome to Freshwater Update for May 2012.

This issue contains news about work from NIWA's Freshwater team, and Water Quality maps and information for the period January, February, March 2012.

As well as the articles below, the following have been added to our website:

Robot spies make new science discoveries in Fiordland's World Heritage Park

Cyclone Yasi, which hit Australia in February, was a massive storm that destroyed hundreds of homes and devastated tropical rainforests. Understanding the risks posed by natural hazards like Cyclone Yasi, and how to mitigate their impact, is an important priority for New Zealand as extreme weather resulting in emergency situations can be expected to become more frequent. Our climate is becoming increasingly variable, while more people are living in coastal areas which are vulnerable to storms.

NIWA’s weather prediction model simulated the intense rainfall which fell just north of the capital, and flooded parts of Porirua, on Sunday 27 March. Thirty nine millimetres of rain fell in less than an hour, around 1.00pm.

Over the past decade, predicting the weather, and understanding the changes in climate, has emerged as one of the most important and topical areas of scientific endeavour.

NIWA scientists leave for Brisbane this Friday 28 January.

NIWA and IBM today announced a multi-million dollar partnership where NIWA will purchase one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers for use in environmental forecasting.

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All staff working on this subject

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Hazard and Risk Analyst
Principal Scientist - Climate
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Hydrodynamics Scientist
Regional Manager - Christchurch
Principal Scientist - Natural Hazards and Hydrodynamics
Principal Scientist - Natural Hazards and Hydrodynamics
Hydrology Scientist
Hydrodynamics Scientist
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