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<br />3. General Considerations <br /> <br />Before initiating a flood proofing funding program, certain factors need to be considered by <br />community officials. Six of the most important factors are covered in the following sections <br />of this chapter: <br /> <br />3.1 Ensure that the projects to be funded are appropriate for the flood hazard. <br /> <br />3.2 Identify the source of the funds. <br /> <br />3.3 Get others in the community interested in and supportive of flood proofing. <br /> <br />3.4 Involve the property owners in the flood proofing and funding decisions. <br /> <br />3.5 Ensure that the community has the legal authOlity to fund the projects. <br /> <br />3.6 Ensure that local staff will be free from liability. <br /> <br />The "how to" aspects of the funding arrangements are covered in Chapter 4. More <br />information on local experiences can be obtained from the contacts listed in Appendix A. <br /> <br />3.1 Appropriate Projects <br /> <br />The financial benefits of flood proofing can be very attractive to community officials. It is <br />usually cheaper to protect a building in place than to acquire and/or remove it. However, <br />flood proofing techniques that leave a building in the flood plain are not appropriate in areas <br />subject to the high hazards of deep flooding, erosion, flash flooding; high velocity flooding or <br />heavy debris flows. <br /> <br />In many places the only safe approach is to remove buildings from harm's way. Flood <br />proofing should be undertaken only where the occupant is not left in a life-threatening <br />situation. <br /> <br />Flood proofing is an appropriate flood protection measure only for certain flood hazards and <br />particular types of buildings. A community should develop criteria to decide which properties <br />should be protected by which measures. The Corps publication, Flood Proofing - How to <br />Evaluate Your ODtions, provides detailed guidelines on determining the most appropriate <br />measure for an individual building (to order a copy, see page 9). <br /> <br />Communities should generally restrict flood proofing projects to areas subject to low velocity <br />and/or shallow flooding. Some limit their funding to the safest types of projects as seen by <br />these examples: <br /> <br />-- Des Plaines, Illinois, restricts its funding to sewer backup protection projects. <br /> <br />-11- <br />