Laserfiche WebLink
<br />dJ 1106 <br /> <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Figure 16. floodIng In Harkey Oeek Watershed. May 1976. <br /> <br />hazards. including actions such as "safe <br />land use and construction practices." <br />But between the idea and the response <br />can fall a great gulf. Have these required <br />mitig:ating actions bef'n taken? <br />Not to any great extent. L\ bit has <br />been don", at the federal level: the Fed- <br />eral Insurance Administration (FlA) sur- <br />veyed flood victims for willingness to <br />relocate, conducted seminars on flood. <br />proofing, and negotiated an agreement <br />.....ith the Small Business Administration <br />(SBA) whereby the latter would ext€nd <br />relocation assistance when the FIA rec- <br />ommendt'd that no reconstruction take <br />place. But except fOf the FlA and SBA, <br />no other Croeml agency has taken direct <br />action to a\'oid losses in future floods. <br />And even less has been done at the <br />state and local level. 10 compliance with <br />P.L. 93.288, a State Hazard Mitigation <br />Coordinator was appoinWd fin" weeks <br />after th{' flood, but because the pre- <br />eminent nero was to get things back to <br />normal, little farsighWd planning was <br />done, at th~t time. And paradoxically, <br />that IS the tlO1e when farsighU'd planning <br />must occur, (or otherwise the old pat- <br />terns will repeat themselves. But only a <br />few modest changes have been made: a <br />plan was developed by Jackson to relo- <br /> <br />cate 29 chronically flooded homes, and <br />~ floodplain zoning law which qualifies <br />It for participation in the regular phase <br />of NFIP was adopted 10 months after <br />the flood (an unfortunate delay due to <br />lack of data, for in this instance delay <br />means adverse construction). On the east <br />side of the river, floodplain management <br />~s still largely nonexistent for example, <br />10 F1owood, construction of an office <br />park outside the levee was even being <br />continued despite the Easter flood. This <br />continuing disregard by the east bank <br />communities for floodplain management <br />may be due partly to the fact that they <br />werf'n't as seriously inundated: the east <br />Ipvpp held but thp .....pst lpvpp did not, <br />and the west side expt'rienced much <br />higher flooding (two clearly interrelated <br />circumstances. for the standing east levee <br />would raise the flood level on the other <br />bank). <br />In any case, the main response of of. <br />ficials in almost all the local jurisdictions <br />h.as been to join the "1ississippi Con!Ues- <br />slonal Delegation in Utl:ing the Corps to <br />expedite a 5500.000 study to evaluate <br />the need in the Jackson area for morE' <br />dams. more local protection works, and <br />a better flood warning syst!'rn. In othf'r <br />.....ords, more structural control. by and <br />large. <br /> <br />I <br />, <br />! <br /> <br />32 <br />