Ordnance Survey – Great Britain's national mapping agency

New Welsh maps reduce flood risks

18 January 2008

New maps highlighting north Wales' flooding hot spots will help to reduce the risks heavy downpours in the area can pose.

The Environment Agency® is working to piece together a more accurate geographic prediction of which areas of the region are most likely to flood by increasing the timescale of information used to 1 000 years.

Richard Weston, a mapper for the Environment Agency, told the Daily Post® why the new maps are so crucial.

He said: ‘After floods in the late 90s, we needed to get information for planning guidelines looking at the dangers of building houses on flood plains, trying to keep residential developments out of the flood zones.

‘We are also looking into the future to provide defences before they get flooded.’

It is estimated that around 45 000 properties are at risk of flooding in north Wales – a risk that was highlighted when large areas of the Conwy Valley were flooded in a downpour that closed the A55 last Wednesday.

The Environment Agency will now use laser technology to remap the region with aerial data that is accurate up to 15 centimetres.

Daily Post is a registered trademark of Trinity Mirror plc. Environment Agency is a registered trademark of The Environment Agency.

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