Flood Modelling Update

The attached notes update the work of the IAHR Flood Risk Management Technical Committee on developing a methodology for distinguishing between valid and invalid flood hazard models. The flyer explains the agreed project work and the Benchmark document summarises an initial assessment data set. Noting the evidence presented that unproven models recently imported into New Zealand can easily under predict flood levels by over a metre, it has been recommend that such models be checked for compliance to the proposed accuracy benchmark before being trusted to deal with matters such as the flooding of urban areas which are less than a metre above high spring tide.

For further information, or if anyone can contribute further to this project by proposing other datasets of comparable quality for potential inclusion in the international accuracy benchmark depository, please contact Dr Alastair Barnett at barncon@xtra.co.nz