Brussels approves new flood plan

Brussels' regional safety department, safe.brussels, has approved a new flooding plan for the Belgian capital that will be implemented when streets flood and sewers can no longer handle the water from heavy rain or thunderstorms.

The plan regulates who warns the population and how a crisis is handled at regional level. It features new emergency measures in addition to existing measures within the Brussels Water Management Plan, which mainly deal with prevention.

“The new plan complements this and ensures that we are prepared in case of a large-scale flood,” safe.brussels said.

Sophie Lavaux, governor for crisis management in Brussels, said: “We cannot stop rain, but if governments, businesses, associations and residents work together, we can limit flood damage.”

The plan features four risk scenarios and the expected impact of each of them, such as extreme sewer back-up, extreme water run-off via roads, high water levels in rivers and streams, and blockage of the central Senne sluice.

It also includes an overview of the actions and measures that water operators and crisis management players can take in the event of flooding or the threat of flooding.

From now on, the flood plan is the formalised guide in the event of severe floods, with authorities hoping this will bring organisation and order to all services involved.

The plan was worked out with Brussels water organisations such as Vivaqua, Hydria, the Port of Brussels and Brussels Environment.

Communication and information to the population are also "crucial", according to safe.brussels, with agreements laid down in the flood plan to ensure that local and regional authorities and emergency services receive timely warnings and inform the population on what to do before, during and after the flood.

Emergency services are also engaged in the emergency plan and can adapt their scenarios to severe flooding.

“Floods in a city are complicated to manage,” Brussels Environment said.

“This emergency plan helps us be better prepared for climate risks. The plan is important and contains several essential measures.”

A Brussels Water Management Plan 2022-2027 had already been approved and published by Brussels Environment in 2023, with the aim of improving the region's resilience in this area.

It provided for a number of government measures to combat flooding and minimise the damage it causes and has now been supplemented by the new plan, which will be rolled out this year to the emergency and response services and local authorities.