FLOOD10331

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: A Primer for Hosting Buyout Workshops
• Date: 1/1/1994
• Prepared For: Association of State Floodplain Managers
• Prepared By: The Mitigation Assistance Corporation, Boulder, CO
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

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DETERMINING THE NEED FOR A WORKSHOP

Workshop Objective
The purpose of conducting a buyouts workshop is to provide those assisting communities
with post-flood recovery with the information and skills necessary to facilitate a program
where building owners may protect their structures from future flood damages. A workshop
can bring together those involved with those who have had successful first hand experience
with similar ventures. There, in a professional yet congenial setting, people can share
information, establish and strengthen partnerships, develop implementation plans, provide
answers to people's questions, and alleviate concern over the unknown. Additionally, such
workshops are a cost-effective manner of accomplishing all of the above.

Identification of Need
The need for such workshops is increasingly frequent. Following flood disasters,
communities need a wide variety of technical assistance in order to recover in the most
efficient manner possible. Efficient recovery from flood disasters implies the need to
incorporate mitigation strategies and actions that will lessen the impact of the next flood.

Much of this information should be disseminated to the impacted communities as soon as
possible after the flood event. A workshop, such as the one held in Davenport, takes time
to plan and is intended to provide comprehensive and detailed information to communities;
however, there should be an immediate effort to provide information addressing topics such
as reconstruction regulations, disaster and mitigation assistance procedures, and buyouts as
an alternative to returning to normal. Several methods can be used to achieve this goaL
including a one-day briefing for interested communities, one-on-one meetings with impacted
communities, or centralized meetings with several communities at a time. Information on
the upcoming workshop can also be provided at this time.

Following floods, communities often seek to resolve two basic issues: (1) what can be donesto help those affected recover, and (2) what can be done to keep it from happening again?
A frequent problem common to both of these issues is the repair of substantially damaged
structures.