The flood risk management plans of fluvial floods have been established for those river basins that include at least one significant flood risk area as well as for coastal areas identified as a areas of potential significant flood risk. The flood risk management plans (FRMP) shall include measures for the prevention and mitigation of floods.
Flood risk management plans present the objectives of flood risk management for each significant flood risk area and the measures for achieving the objectives. In the selection of measures efforts must be made to reduce the probability of floods and to use means other than those based on flood protection structures if this is considered appropriate in view of the circumstances as a whole. The plan presents the costs and benefits as well as the order of priority of the measures. It must be ensured, in particular, that measures presented in the flood risk management plan are coordinated with the environmental objectives of the water resources management.
For cooperation between the authorities necessary for preparing the flood risk management plan there is a flood management group for a river basin and coastal area where one or several significant flood risk areas have been designated. The flood management group is composed of the representatives of the relevant Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY-centre), Regional Councils, municipalities and regional rescue services. The flood management group processed the studies and documentation prepared for the flood risk management plan and set the objectives for flood risk management.
The flood management group have organised interaction between the authorities in the significant flood risk area in the different stages of the preparation of the flood risk management plan. ELY-centres have reserved everyone the opportunity to examine the proposal for a flood risk management plan and their background documents.
The task of the ELY-centre has been to prepare flood risk management plans for river basins and coastal areas.The flood management group have approved the proposal for the plan and the measures included in it. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry approved the first flood risk management plans in 2015.
The Finnish Environment Institute's responsibilities are preparing guidance for management plans and in communication, reporting to the European Commission, as well as seeing to the development of methods needed in flood risk management. The flood risk management plans are reviewed in coordination with the water resources management plans every six years so that the management plans for the second cycle will be finalised before end of the 2021.
Municipalities are responsible of the planning of stormwater and meltwater flood risk management plans. There are no significant pluvial flood risk areas designated in Finland. Since no pluvial flood risk management plans were prepared.
Objectives and measures for flood risk management
Flood risk management objectives are based on flood risk maps and local conditions. Setting the objectives is task for each flood risk management group and is done for flood risk area and for whole river basin or coastal area. Typically target level of protection is exeptional flood (1/100a, in some areas 1/250a). In the 16 management plans for years 2016-2021 total of 410 different measures were proposed for achieving the objectives. These measures are divided in five groups based on the different phases of flood risk management. Measures were evaluated with help of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and further prioritised in the regional flood management groups.
