FLOOD09407

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Sharing the Challenge: Floodplain Management into the 21st Century
• Date: 6/1/1994
• Prepared For: Administration Floodplain Management Task Force
• Prepared By: Interagency Floodplain Mmanagement Review Committee
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Community File

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

activities in the floodplain simply cannot be discarded as
inappropriate. Implementing this approach, the Review
Committee believes, will bring about changes necessary
to reduce flood vulnerability to both the infrequent

major flood events and the more frequent smaller ones.
Implementation also will reduce the environmental,
social, and economic burdens imposed by current
conditions on both public and private sectors.

SHARING THE CHALLENGE - FEDERAL, STATE, TRIBAL AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENTS, BUSINESSES, CITIZENS

Since passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936, the
federal government has dominated the nation's flood
damage reduction efforts and, as a result, the nation's
floodplain management activity. Structural programs
were deemed important and were also the principal
sources of funds for any efforts to stem the rising tide
of flood losses. In recent years, the federal government
has begun to support nonstructural approaches. Many
states, tribes, and local governments have developed
and carried out floodplain management efforts that both
reduced flood damages and enhanced the natural
functions of floodplains. In carrying out these
programs, however, they have been hampered by
uncoordinated and conflicting federal programs,
policies, regulations and guidelines that have hindered
efficient floodplain management. Some state and local
governments have not been as active in floodplain
management. With the federal government assuming
the dominant role and funding most ecosystem
restoration, flood damage reduction, and flood recovery
activities, the incentive has been limited for many state,
tribal and local governments, businesses, and private
citizens to share responsibility for making wise
decisions concerning floodplain activity. Now is the
time to:

. Share responsibility and accountability for
accomplishing floodplain management among
all levels of government and with all citizens of
the nation. The federal government cannot go it
alone nor should it take a dominant role in the
process.

. Establish, as goals for the future, the
reduction of the vulnerability of the nation to
the dangers and damages that result from
floods and the concurrent and integrated
preservation and enhancement of the natural
resources and functions of floodplains. Such
an approach seeks to avoid unwise use of the
floodplain, to minimize vulnerability when
floodplains must be used, and to mitigate
damages when they do occur.

. Organize federal programs to provi~ the
support and the tools necessary for all levels of
government to carry out and participate in
effective floodplain management.

COMMITTEE FINDINGS:

In conducting the review, the Committee divided its findings into two areas: the Midwest Flood of 1993, and Federal,
State, Tribal, and Local Floodplain Management.

The Midwest Flood of 1993

In reviewing the Midwest Flood of 1993, the
Committee found that:

hydrometeorological event unprecedented in recent
times. It was caused by excessive rainfall that occurred
throughout a significant section of the upper Mississippi
River Basin, The damaging impacts of this rainfall and

. The Midwest Flood of 1993 was a

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