Floodplain Management Summary
Throughout history, people have settled next to
waterways because of the advantages they offer in transportation,
commerce, energy, water supply, soil fertility, and waste disposal.
In spite of these benefits, however, our historic attraction to
settling along rivers and streams in not without its drawbacks.
Floods have caused a greater loss of life and property, and have
disrupted more families and communities in the United States than all
other natural hazards combined. The United States, as it moves into
the 21st century, is at a crossroads in the use of its floodplains.
The nation may choose to use these flood-prone lands for the primary
purpose of economic development, or it may take action to better
balance their economic and environmental outputs.
Floodplain management is defined as a
decision-making process that aims to achieve the wise use of the
Nation's floodplains. Floodplain management aims to achieve a
reduction in the loss of life, disruption, and damage cause by
floods; and the preservation and restoration of the natural resources
and functions of flood plains (which, in turn, lessen damage
potential). To achieve the goals of floodplain management, the nation
must adopt a new approach -- one that takes full advantage of all
methods available to reduce vulnerabilities to damages and, in
parallel, to protect and enhance the natural resources and functions
of the floodplain. This approach would achieve floodplain management
through:
- avoiding the risks of the floodplain,
- minimizing the impacts of those risks when they
cannot be avoided;
- mitigating the impacts of damages when they
occur; and
- accomplishing the above in a manner that
concurrently protects and enhances the natural environment.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has
played a critical role in fostering and accelerating the principles
of floodplain management. Flood insurance is available to floodprone
communities through the NFIP, which is administered by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency. Prior to the NFIP, flood insurance was
generally unavailable from the private sector and most State and
communities did not regulate floodplain development. Dependence was
instead placed on the construction of flood control projects such as
levees, dams, and channels to reduce flood damage. Despite the
expenditures of billions of dollars for these flood control projects,
annual flood damages and disaster assistance costs were increasing at
a rapid pace. In response to this worsening situation, congress
created the NFIP in 1968 to reduce flood losses and disaster relief
cost by guiding future development away from flood hazard areas where
practicable, requiring flood-resistant design and construction,and
transferring costs of losses to floodplain occupants through flood
insurance premiums.
The NFIP was broadened and modified by the Flood
Disaster ProtectionAct of 1973, which requires the purchase of flood
insurance as a condition for receiving any form of Federal or
federally related financial assistance, such as mortgage loans from
federally insured lending institutions. The NFIP has mapped
floodplains in over 20,000 communities and over 18,400 communities
now participate in the program. Many States and communities have
established floodplain management programs and adopted floodplain
management statutes and regulations that go beyond NFIP requirements.
The National Flood Insurance Reform Act (NFIRA),
signed intolaw in 1994, strengthened the NFIP by providing for
mitigation insurance and establishing a grant program for State and
community flood mitigation planning projects. The NFIRA also codified
the Community Rating System (CRS), established objectives for CRS and
directs that credits may be given to communities that implement
measures to protect natural and beneficial floodplain functions and
manage the erosion hazard. The CRS is an incentive program whereby
communities that exceed the minimum requirements of the NFIP secure
reductions in the flood insurance premiums for their residents.
Approximately 940 communities are currently participatingin CRS. The
policies in the CRS communities represent over 60 percent of all NFIP
flood insurance policies currently in place.
Examples of flood mitigation include elevating
homes and business above the base flood (a flood having a percent
chance of being equaled or exceeded in a given year), relocating
homes out ofthe flood plain, and minimizing the vulnerability to
flood damage through both structural and nonstructural means.
For information on Flood Mitigation:
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