Flood simulation workshop brings crisis response to life at EUSBSR Forum

ClimaResponse is co-organising a hands-on interactive workshop on 12 May at the 2026 EUSBSR Annual Forum in Tallinn, Estonia, where participants will take on roles within a cross-sectoral working group — a team bringing together different authorities, emergency services and organisations — making decisions on evacuations, resource allocation and next steps to protect their community.

During the session, participants will work together to respond to rising water levels in a flood event. Taking on different roles, they will notably lead incident response, coordinate volunteers, and monitor water levels in real time as the scenario unfolds.

The workshop scenario is based on the severe flooding that affected Kristiansand, Norway, in 2017, which was classified as a “once-in-500-years” event due to its scale and intensity. It draws on elements from a broader simulation playbook developed and used by Kristiansand Municipality for a preparedness exercise in September 2025.

That simulation brought together the police, road authorities, health services and other actors, and was built using real-life data from the 2017 flood to ensure a realistic and credible scenario. On 22 April 2026, actors involved in the Kristiansand simulation reconvened for a joint evaluation exercise, which resulted in a draft cross-sectoral cooperation action plan.

While such large-scale events remain relatively rare, their likelihood is increasing due to climate change. The Baltic Sea Region is no exception: as temperatures rise and extreme weather events become more frequent, municipalities across the region will need to strengthen preparedness and climate resilience.

Co-organised by ClimaResponse together with BALTFLOODS and CREWS, and with support from Kristiansand and Intoto — the company that facilitated the simulation using real-life data — the workshop on 12 May will demonstrate how municipalities can use exercises to build climate resilience and strengthen cooperation across sectors.

Programme Manual Online

Choose