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Most research on flood warning systems is pre‐occupied with official or formal systems designed by government organizations to warn other agencies and the public‐at‐risk. Yet those at risk may obtain much of their flood‐related information from unofficial sources, such as personal networks and direct observation. Despite this, informal or unofficial systems are often afforded little official credence, even though empirical evidence indicates that formal flood warnings often fail. Exploration of the value of ‘folk’ or local, as opposed to specialist‐technical, knowledge suggests that such knowledge satisfies a range of important needs which are likely to be unfulfilled by official warnings. The scope for personal networks to relay warnings and to contribute local knowledge towards system design appears to be large.This paper examines the widespread use of unofficial flood warnings and the advantages of integrating them with official ones. The reality of unofficial warning systems should be recognized. Efforts should be directed towards finding ways of integrating them with official ones — with the aim of enhancing overall warning system performance from the perspective of those at risk: that is, system reliability, accuracy, credibility and salience. Empirical evidence on official flood warning performance, the perceived need for official systems among flood‐plain occupants and their levels of satisfaction with such systems, indicates that the merits of an integrated approach could be large, especially as flood‐plain occupants are often willing to participate in flood warning systems.
Parker et al. (Sun,) studied this question.