FLOOD01659

• County: Statewide
• Title: Floodplain Management Handbook
• Date: 9/1/1981
• Prepared By: Flood Loss Reduction Associates
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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The most serious effects of
floods are those related to health and
safety. An average of about 200 flood-
related deaths occur annually and
hundreds more people are injured. Flash
floods are the biggest killer because
they occur so suddenly. The 1972 flood
at Rapid City, South Dakota, for
example, killed 236 people. Four years
later, a flash flood along Big Thompson
Canyon in Colorado killed at least 158
people wi thin a matter of a few hours.
But all major floods have the potential
to be spectacular killers. In 1900, a
hurricane with a huge storm surge
killed 6,000 people in Galveston,
Texas. Tsunamis and other coastal
flooding have also taken large numbers
of lives in Hawaii, Alaska, on the West
Coast, along the shores of the Gulf of
Mexico and on the islands of the
Caribbean.

Those not physically injured in
flooding can be affected by depression
and anxiety accompanying the loss of
homes or propepty and deaths of rela-

tives or friends. Physical illness is
sometimes caused by the contamination
of water and food and damage .to sewer
systems. And, for some individuals,
families, or businesses, flood losses
become a financial catastrophy.

There are also other social
costs. Lost revenues to governments,
coupled with flood-related expendi-
tures, deplete financial reserves and
limit government services. Owners' of
repeatedly flooded property sometimes
lose their incentive or even their
financial capability to repair damages.
Their property too often becomes so
dilapidated that it has a depressing
effect on adjacent neighborhoods not
subject to flooding.

The economic losses and hardships
caused by flooding often lead to
demands for flood protection projects.
The expense of such projects and their
effect on the environment ,add to the
overall cost of flooding.

This jumble of cars and debris was left after a
vulnerability to catastrophic losses is increasing
continues and cost of replacements grow.

flash flood. The Nation 's
as floodplain development

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