FLOOD08661

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Floodplain Web Information
• Date: 11/14/1997
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Community File

Learn-Assess

installation and operation of flood warning systems
and reduced their own flood losses.

Home Leaminl! Center Back

Floodproofing and Elevation

Floodproofing is the use of permanent, contingent,
or emergency techniques to either prevent flood
waters from entering buildings or to minimize the
damages from water that does get in. Some of the
techniques involve using water-tight seals, closures
or barriers; using water-resistant materials; and
temporarily relocating the contents of a building.
Elevating a structure means raising it on fill, piers,
or pilings so that it is above expected flood levels.
Most new floodplain structures are now designed
to incorporate flood-proofing and/or elevation,
primarily because it is required by the regulations
of all National Flood Insurance Program
communities. There are millions of existing
floodprone homes to which floodproofing could be
applied retroactively ("retrofitted"), but this
technique is not yet routinely used. One obstacle
has been that flood insurance rates stay the same
when a residence is retrofitted; the new
Community Rating System of the National Flood
Insurance Program should help remove that
disincentive.

Floodproofing is probably the tool most widely
used by the private sector with only limited
government assistance. Many of the early
floodproofing techniques were developed by
architects, engineers, and building contractors as
they worked with individual property owners,
especially on small commercial buildings and
industrial facilities. The American Institute of
Architects, the National Association of
Homebuilders, university researchers, and private
engineering firms have conducted considerable
research on and developed technical information

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