The Influence of Hazard Maps and Trust of Flood Controls on Coastal Flood Spatial Awareness and Risk Perception

Understanding the impact of digital, interactive flood hazard maps and flood control systems on public flood risk perception could enhance risk communication and management. This study analyzed a survey of residents living near California’s Newport Bay Estuary and found that self-rated nonspatial perceptions of dread or concern over future flood impacts were positively associated with spatial awareness of flood-prone areas. Trust in flood control systems was associated with greater spatial flood hazard awareness but weaker nonspatial dread or concern, suggesting residents who witnessed and trust flood control systems developed a confident sense of flood-prone areas and that this confidence reduced the overall nonspatial sense of flood dread and concern. Viewing a flood hazard map eliminated differences in spatial hazard awareness between subgroups that existed prior to viewing a map, and viewing a map with estimated flood depth and greater spatial differentiation was associated with higher levels of postmap spatial awareness.