Willingness of residents to invest in flood mitigation measures and to purchase flood insurance

¹ Finnish Environment Institute, Water Centre, P. O. Box 140, FI-00251 Helsinki, Finland
² Finnish Environment Institute, Water Centre, P. O. Box 413, FI-90014 Oulu University, Oulu, Finland

^a Corresponding author: sari.vaisanen@environment.fi

Abstract

Approximately 12,000 people live in the flood risk areas in Finland. New flood risk management plans were prepared for 21 areas as a part of the EU Floods Directive in 2015. In connection with this work, we conducted a survey in three flood risk areas in 2014. The total number of recipients was 4,710 and the response rate 39%. The study provided an indication of how local citizens perceive flood risk, and specifically whether they have already invested or would be willing to invest in private flood mitigation measures or to purchase flood insurance. We also examined how previous personal experiences of flooding affected their responses. The questionnaires were georeferenced in GIS and compared with flood hazard maps on a detailed scale. Over 27% of the respondents had experienced a recent flooding event, but only 9% had implemented flood mitigation measures and 10% knew that flood coverage was included in their insurance. A young age and having property at risk of flooding increased the willingness of respondents to consider implementing flood protection measures and purchasing flood insurance.