Flood Risk and Monitoring Data for Preparedness and Response: From Availability to Use

Producing flood risk and flood observation data does not necessarily lead to better decision-making for flood preparedness and response. In the absence of technical capacity from potential users to review flood risk and observation data for specific flood management use-cases, there is a risk that additional data, regardless of quality, leads to increased analytical burden to identify which is most appropriate. This in turn, can lead users within a time-constrained environment to make poor choices of data, or discourage use of the available data because of lack of time and expertise. This chapter explores two case studies, one focusing on flood preparedness and one on flood response, with the goal to identify use-cases of flood related decision making and to understand some of the specific questions they are asking related to use of flood data. These case studies are used to highlight common themes and questions, leading to the identification of four opportunities to move forward towards the decision-specific development and tailoring of flood risk data.