Best Practice 40

Short description: With the Rubber Boot Index, emergency preparedness can use far more detailed data to predict the consequences of increased water levels. It enables better planning and management of critical situations - thus minimizing the risk of damage. For example, emergency services need to know whether to allocate pumps and barriers to affected areas and how to travel to affected areas. 

The Rubber Boot Index specifies water depth in 10 cm intervals, illustrated by six colour codes, making it possible to see very quickly where water levels are very deep and what are the routes of access. It was first introduced in 2012 and enhanced in 2017 with links to other geodata when a new edition of the Climate Adaptation Tool “Seawater on Land” came out, on which the Rubber Boot Index was based. The new release of the Index provides a more accurate tool to support better informed contingency measures. It consists of free geographical data from “Seawater on land” combined with data on the height of the Danish road network. This means that through the Rubber Boot Index it is also possible to see where flooding affects roads, which can be very useful in planning evacuations in an affected area.

The tool is offered in two versions: as a web service that can be included in other professional solutions, or as part of SDFE's Map Viewer, which is aimed at citizens who can, for example, visualise the consequences of a given storm surge in their local area.

Recommendations: Policy and Strategy Alignment (4); Digital Government Integration (6)