Floodplain Management

Floodplain Management
Author: Bob Freitag
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2012-06-22
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1610911326

A flooding river is very hard to stop. Many residents of the United States have discovered this the hard way. Right now, over five million Americans hold flood insurance policies from the National Flood Insurance Program, which estimates that flooding causes at least six billion dollars in damages every year. Like rivers after a rainstorm, the financial costs are rising along with the toll on residents. And the worst is probably yet to come. Most scientists believe that global climate change will result in increases in flooding. The authors of this book present a straightforward argument: the time to stop a flooding rivers is before is before it floods. Floodplain Management outlines a new paradigm for flood management, one that emphasizes cost-effective, long-term success by integrating physical, chemical, and biological systems with our societal capabilities. It describes our present flood management practices, which are often based on dam or levee projects that do not incorporate the latest understandings about river processes. And it suggests that a better solution is to work with the natural tendencies of the river: retreat from the floodplain by preventing future development (and sometimes even removing existing structures); accommodate the effects of floodwaters with building practices; and protect assets with nonstructural measures if possible, and with large structural projects only if absolutely necessary.

A Unified National Program for Floodplain Management

A Unified National Program for Floodplain Management
Author: United States. Interagency Task Force on Floodplain Management
Publisher:
Total Pages: 152
Release: 1986
Genre: Flood control
ISBN:

Prepared by the Interagency Task Force on Floodplain Management. Includes National Flood Insurance Program.

Flood Resistant Design and Construction

Flood Resistant Design and Construction
Author: American Society of Civil Engineers
Publisher: ASCE Publications
Total Pages: 86
Release: 2006
Genre: Building, Stormproof
ISBN:

Standard ASCE/SEI 24-05 provides minimum requirements for flood-resistant design and construction of structures located in flood hazard areas.

Mapping the Zone

Mapping the Zone
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2009-06-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309130573

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps portray the height and extent to which flooding is expected to occur, and they form the basis for setting flood insurance premiums and regulating development in the floodplain. As such, they are an important tool for individuals, businesses, communities, and government agencies to understand and deal with flood hazard and flood risk. Improving map accuracy is therefore not an academic question-better maps help everyone. Making and maintaining an accurate flood map is neither simple nor inexpensive. Even after an investment of more than $1 billion to take flood maps into the digital world, only 21 percent of the population has maps that meet or exceed national flood hazard data quality thresholds. Even when floodplains are mapped with high accuracy, land development and natural changes to the landscape or hydrologic systems create the need for continuous map maintenance and updates. Mapping the Zone examines the factors that affect flood map accuracy, assesses the benefits and costs of more accurate flood maps, and recommends ways to improve flood mapping, communication, and management of flood-related data.

Subdivision Design and Flood Hazard Areas

Subdivision Design and Flood Hazard Areas
Author: James Schwab
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Dwellings
ISBN: 9781611901870

Sustainability, resilience, and climate change are top of mind for planners and floodplain managers. For subdivision design, those ideas haven't hit home. The results? Catastrophic flood damage in communities across the country. This PAS Report is out to end the cycle of build-damage-rebuild and bring subdivision design into line with the best of floodplain planning. Readers will get the tools they need to save lives, protect property, and lay the foundation for a better future.