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r- SHARING THE CHALLENGE: FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT INTO THE 21" CENTURY The Report of the Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee ABSTRACT June 1994 The Midwest Flood of 1993 was a significant hydrometeorological event. In some areas it represented an unusual event; in most others, however, it was just another of the many that have been seen before and will be seen again. Flood flows similar to those experienced by most of the Midwest can occur at any time. During the decade ending in 1993, average annual flood damages in the United States exceed $3 billion. Flood damages are a national problem. Excessive rainfall, which produced standing water, saturated soils, and overland flow, caused major damages to upland agriculture and some communities. In turn, runoff from this rainfall created, throughout the basin, flood events that became a part of the nation's 1993 TV experience. Damages overall were extensive: between $12 billion and $16 billion that can be counted, and a large amount in unquantifiable impacts on the health and well-being of the population of the Midwest. Human activities in the floodplains of the Midwest over the last three centuries have placed people and property at risk. Local and federal flood damage reduction projects were constructed to minimize the annual risk, and, during the 1993 flood, prevented nearly $20 billion in damages. Some of these programs, however, attracted people to high risk areas and created greater exposure to future damages. In addition. flood control, navigation~ and agricultural activities severely reduced available floodplain habitat and compromised natural functions upon which fish and wildlife rely. Over the last 30 years the nation has learned that effective floodplain management can reduce vulnerability to damages and create a balance among natural and human uses of floodplains and their related watersheds to meet both social and environmental goals, The nation, however, has not taken full advantage of this knowledge. The United States simply has lacked the focus and the incentive to engage itself seriously in floodplain management. The 1993 flood has managed to focus attention on the floodplain and has provided the incentive for action. The Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee proposes a better way to manage the floodplains. It begins by establishing that all levels of government, all businesses and all citizens have a stake in properly managing the floodplain. All of those who support risky behavior, either directly or indirectly, must share in floodplain management and in the costs of reducing that risk. The federal government can lead by example; but state and local governments must manage their own floodplains. Individual citizens must adjust their actions to the risk they face and bear a greater share of the economic costs. :, The Review Committee supports a floodplain management strategy of, sequentially, avoiding ~ inappropriate use of the floodplain, minimizing vulnerability to damage through both structural and nonstructural means, and mitigating flood damages when they do occur, By controlling runoff, managing ecosystems for all their benefits, planning the use of the land and identifying those areas at risk, many hazards can be avoided. Where the risk cannot be avoided, damage minimization approaches, such as elevation and relocation of buildings or construction of reservoirs or flood protection structures, are used only when they can be integrated into a systems approach to flood damage reduction in the basin. When floods occur. impacts on individuals and communities can be mitigated with a flood insurance program that is funded by those who are protected. Full disaster support for those in the floodplain is contingent on their participation in these self-help mitigation programs, Measures that v