Road agency urges clearer rules for coastal flood protection

Iceland’s road administration says laws do not clearly define how coastal flood risk assessments should be carried out or what effect they should have on planning. It also says maintenance of coastal defences is inadequate in many places, mbl.is reports.

The agency raised the issues in a submission to Alþingi’s Environment and Transport Committee on a proposal to review laws covering coastal flood protection, avalanche protection and natural hazards.

The proposal, introduced by Social Democratic Alliance MP Dagur B. Eggertsson, would ask the government to review the legal framework for risk assessments, planning and funding for infrastructure and other measures related to coastal flooding and, where relevant, other natural hazards.

The road administration wants the law to specify minimum requirements for how high structures must be above sea level and how far they must stand from the coast. It also says authorities should decide whether building should be restricted in areas at greatest risk, and clarify their legal powers and duties to provide defences where construction has been permitted in known flood zones.

The agency says it has understood state funding for coastal defences to be intended mainly for new construction. But because maintenance has often been inadequate, funding has also had to be used for rebuilding.

It says there is not enough basis to conclude that the administration of the policy area needs a complete overhaul. Instead, it recommends making better use of, and coordinating, the expertise of the institutions already involved.

The proposal also calls for an assessment of whether the arrangements for avalanche protection and the avalanche fund could be used for coastal flood protection. Other options include setting up a separate fund, broadening the avalanche fund’s remit or establishing a new agency with overall responsibility for risk assessments and protection against natural hazards.

The proposal’s explanatory note says Iceland does not have a comprehensive coastal flood risk assessment. It also refers to extensive damage caused when seawater flooded areas across the southwest of the country during the first weekend of March 2025.