Flood Hazard Across Aotearoa New ZealandFlood Hazard Across Aotearoa New Zealand

More than 750,000 New Zealanders currently live in areas at risk of major flooding – a number that could rise to 900,000 with three degrees of global warming. The figures come from a five-year national research programme led by Earth Sciences New Zealand, which has also launched the country’s first consistent nationwide flood hazard viewer. The online tool allows people to see whether their homes or communities fall within areas at risk from one-in-100-year rainfall events, and how that exposure could change under future climate scenarios. Currently it’s around 750,000 people who are affected — with three degrees of warming that could go up to 900,000. That's the number of people whose houses are directly exposed to flooding. Even if your house doesn’t flood, if you can’t get to work, or your children can’t get to school, or there’s a supply chain taken out because of flooding — the effects are on a far wider group of people.