Flood Safety Awareness Week is March 10-16, 2024
Flooding is the most common and costly type of disaster in New Hampshire. Spring is typically when flooding is most expected, but as many New Hampshire residents have experienced first-hand, flooding can occur any time of the year.
Know the flow- types of flooding may affect your community:
Riverine flooding happens when water overtops the banks of a river or its tributary streams. Riverine flooding is usually the result of heavy or long periods of rainfall and/or rapid snow melt.
Coastal flooding occurs along the Seacoast and nearby marshes, bays, and tidally influenced rivers. It can result from storms, and include storm surge and the effects of large waves. Sea level rise is also a factor contributing to more frequent and severe coastal flooding.
A
flash flood is a flood that happens within six hours or less of the start of heavy rainfall or another event such as a dam or levee failure, or the rapid release from an ice jam. Flash floods are largely unpredictable and their damage is not always confined to areas along rivers and streams.
Shallow flooding occurs in flat areas where a lack of stream capacity means water cannot drain away easily. Shallow flooding can result in water collecting floodplains, low-lying urbanized areas, and other places with drainage problems.
Ice Jams happen when ice anchors to stream bed and banks, or when ice chunks are carried along a river or stream, blocking the flow of water. This may cause flooding to low-lying areas upstream or, if the ice jam breaks up suddenly after water backs up behind it, flash flooding may happen downstream too.
Learn how you can prepare for flooding with the following resources:
- Readynh.gov - New Hampshire’s official source for information during state emergencies.
- NH Flood Hazard Viewer – Find out if you live in a flood-prone area.
- Floodsmart.gov – Information on National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Flood Insurance.
New Hampshire Floodplain Management Program Outreach Toolkit:
Help spread the word to your community’s residents, colleagues, and friends and relatives during Flood Safety Awareness Week using the following resources.
New Hampshire Silver Jackets
In 2019, the
New Hampshire Silver Jackets, a team of federal and state agencies that works collaboratively together on reducing flood risks in the state, released the
Flood Hazard Handbook for Municipal Officials, a publication designed to help NH communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from floods. It includes guidance, best practices, and information about available federal and state resources organized into situation-specific sections: Before the Flood, During the Flood, and After the Flood. Also included is a customizable
Flood Response and Recovery Checklist that can be used by municipal officials to identify and manage priority activities when a flood does happen.