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I I I- I I I I I I Ie I I !I I I I I. I I ..,.........',,-""-, "Because the systems for collecting data with respect to the amount and character of flood losses in the United States are incomplete, inaccurate and inconsist- ent, it is impossible to estimate with accuracy, the full extent of such losses." Studies done for the insurance industry in the 1950's also pointed out the lack of flood damage data: "The available nationwide flood loss statistics are unreliable and inconclusive due to the methods of evaluation, which are inadequate for the following reasons: 1) The determination of value of physical goods and property often fail to take into account obsolescence, deterioration, and future income-pro- ducing capacity in calculating the present worth of the property, 2) Depreciation in property value is used indiscriminately as a measure of loss to the property. The addition of damage to the deprecia- tion gives a value far in excess of the actual loss," (American Insurance Association, 1956) A 1966 Government report again showed the lack of existing flood damage data: "Information on damages caused by floods also is in- adequate for the task. Because there has been no sound national basic data plan. . .a new start is necessary to provide essential information to an effec- tive program of flood plain management." (Task Force on Federal Flood Control Policy) From a 1968 ASCE study comes the following: "The contemporary absence of a satisfactory'body of hydrologic and economic field data on urban storm drain- age system floods constitutes a liability of monumental proportions in the assessment of those floods and their .associated damages. ,,- (Ackerman, et aI, 1968) 4 :~. ~,.~"..___u,..__ -~'"~_