Historical Flood Events

Floods have affected communities across Canada for centuries. Through observation of the natural world, Indigenous peoples have seen the changes in the lands they are so closely connected to. Indigenous people have passed on the knowledge of flooding through oral histories, stories, and song (traditional knowledge). More recently, the flood events have been documented in newspaper articles, reports, and other written publications.

To understand where to expect floods, it is important to know where they occurred in the past. With over 1400 flood events documented in over 7000 locations and dating back to 1696, the Historical Flood Events data layer is a unique compilation of flood history in Canada. The data layer also contains precipitation statistics for each heavy rain flood event that occurred after January 1st, 1980. Flood extents generated in near real time (4 hours) and for the current year developed by the emergency geomatics services using satellite imagery are also available.