Floods and Flooding

9. Many homeowners (and the ? lobbyists!) complained to Congress that the increased premiums were ? expensive, or that their homes were ? as flood-prone as FEMA claimed—or both. In 2014, Congress passed the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, which ? by four years the planned increases in flood insurance premiums. The legislation also requires ? to make insurance cheaper and re-assess flood maps to ensure that only those in flood-prone places are impacted.

- REAL estate, TOO, NOT, DELAYS, FEMA

10. Since 2018, Congress has passed a ? of very short-term measures intended to keep ? going, but it has struggled to fix this flood insurance MESS partly due to political conflict (we live in politically polarized times!), partly because a real "fix" will be ? and partly because the disasters (Harvey, Maria, Michael.....) have overwhelmed ? .

- SERIES, NFIP, EXPENSIVE, FEMA

2. Low lying ? can be flooded by a combination of excess ? water, ? tide, storm ? , tsunamis and other ? , and sea level ? (either global or locally induced) all of which can be amplified by ? shaped bays.

COASTS , RIVER, HIGH, SURGES, WAVES, RISE, funnel

I. Not only are floods the most ? disaster (20,000 people are killed by floods each year), according to Mileti , "Floods were the most ? hazard in the United States in terms of ? and dollar damage to property and crops over the 1975 to 1994 period." Recent data appear to confirm this from a mortality perspective AND, Gilbert Gaul (2019) suggests that ? flooding is becoming enormously expensive.

COMMON, COSTLY, DEATH, COASTAL

B. Modify susceptibility to flood damage by exercising greater ? over land use in order to avoid unwise activity in ? prone areas, investing in disaster/emergency preparedness, investing in flood education, forecasting and ? and investing in flood proofing (such as ? and/or waterproofing structures).

CONTROL, FLOOD, WARNING, ELEVATING

4. The near collapse of California's Oroville ? in 2017 suggests that areas below unsafe or inadequate DAMS are at risk of flooding.

DAM

C. In addition to ? from drowning, victims may suffer from illness or ? after floods, and they may suffer crop and other ? damage.

DEATH, disease, PROPERTY

3. Channel alterations such as straightening, widening, or ? streams, clearing obstructions, lining channels with ? , all in an attempt to move ? volumes of water quickly. Channel dredging and widening can help but these activities have also caused much ? to surrounding environments.

DEEPENING, CONCRETE, LARGE, ecological DAMAGE

D. Although Federal ? Management Agency (FEMA) floodplain maps suggest that only 13 million people in the U.S. (almost ?%) LIVE in the 100 year floodplain/exposed to 1% risk of flooding each year—Oliver E.J. Wing et al. suggest that nearly ? million people in the U.S. (over 12%) live in this same FLOODPLAIN . Despite significant government expenditure on flood protection since the late 1800s, deaths (even in the US.) have continued to increase and property damage has dramatically ? .

EMERGENCY, 4, 41, INCREASED

** Indeed, the Federal ? Management Administration (FEMA) now provides some ? to help a small number of households ? to a different community (rather than re-build in the same ? place).

EMERGENCY, FUNDING, RELOCATE, FLOOD prone

3. Right now, many state and local governments have tax policies that ? development (because everybody wants to encourage ? creation)—but sometimes these tax advantages encourage development in flood ? Tax policies can be changed to discourage floodplain ? and encourage ? intensity land use in a floodplain: for example, reducing a farmer's or rancher's ? burden, or postponing higher taxes on land owners until the land is sold.

ENCOURAGE, JOB, PLAINS, DEVELOPMENT, LOW, TAX

a. When we encounter floods that ? design specifications, then we can have levee ? and big problems.

EXCEED, FAILURE

b. Indeed, levees have produced what is called the levee effect, the process where people develop a ? due to levees (we might be tempted to assume that levees will prevent ? flood damage in the future) and then land values in a flood prone region ? and the region becomes over-developed, setting the stage for a major ? .

FALSE sense of security, ALL, RISE, DISASTERS

4. Communities designated as ? prone (usually defined as within the ?), must join the program or risk being ? disaster relief after a flood.

FLOOD, 100 year floodplain, DENIED

3. Hurricane Betsy (in 1965) prompted President Lyndon Johnson and Congress to pass the National ? Control Act of 1968, creating the National Flood ? Program (NFIP) because private companies had backed out of the flood insurance ? and the federal government was beginning to spend ? sums on flood disaster relief.

FLOOD, INSURANCE, MARKET, HUGE

1. Modest efforts to improve the public's understanding of ? zones have been insufficient. Flood zone ? are still hard to read.

FLOOD, MAPS

B. "Despite the fact that ? are one of the most topographically obvious of all hazard prone environments, widespread invasion has occurred as a result of countless ? decisions rooted in the belief that the locational ? outweigh the risks."

FLOODPLAINS, INDIVIDUAL, BENEFITS

6. Essentially, local ? are supposed to restrict building in the 100 year flood plain. According to Tobin and Montz, 1997, p.192), "These regulations attempt to ? reliance on flood control structures, phase out uneconomic development of hazardous areas, and force FLOOD plain residents to ? against their individual losses, thereby minimizing the need for relief."

GOVERNMENTS, MINIMIZE, insure

8. In 2012, Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, intending to use ? flood insurance premiums to generate more revenue AND ? development in flood-prone places.

INCREASED, REDUCE

a. Since 2005, there have been about 5 million flood policies in the U.S. b. Much of the flood ? that NFIP pays for occurs on properties that are repeatedly flooded. * NFIP now requires that property that has been "substantially damaged" (? to repair are more than 50% of the value of the property) either be ? or acquired by local government.

INSURANCE , COST, ELEVATED

d. As the tragedies in the aftermath of Hurricanes ? (New Orleans and the northern Gulf of ? coast) and Sandy (New ? and New ? coasts) make clear, it is difficult to resist the temptation to rebuild in FLOOD prone areas. Katrina and Sandy lead to so many claims that FEMA ? heavily to meet its obligations, and even after Congress erased $16 billion in debt, according to a 23 December 2019 Congressional Research Service report, the debt is now at $20.525 billion.

KATRINA, MEXICO, YORK, JERSEY, BORROWED

3. Low lying ? shores are subject to fluctuating ? levels.

LAKE , WATER

2. Much more common are ? controls such as zoning (which prevents certain land uses in certain areas). this has become more prominent in the post WWII era. Zoning falls under the police ? of government. Government regulations that restrict ? use are usually deemed constitutional by the courts IF they promote the public health, ? and wellbeing. Such land use restrictions require no ? to property owners.

LAND use, POWER, LAND, SAFETY, COMPENSATION

5. Only after a community joins NFIP (and enacts appropriate ? use regulations) can individuals and businesses purchase ? insurance (which is subsidized by the ? government). The idea is to generate collective or community action. Indeed, in 1973, Congress modified the NFIP such that all ? made by a federal agency or federally regulated, supervised or insured institution, require the borrower to purchase flood ? if the property is in the 100 year ?

LAND, FLOOD, FEDERAL, LOANS, INSURANCE, FLOOD PLAIN

7. The results are mixed, in part because so many people already ? in flood prone areas, and in part because many communities lack the political ? to develop ? use restrictions and partly because the federal ? has not always demanded such regulations.

LIVE, WILL, LAND, GOVERNMENT

d. Places along or near ? streams are subject to flash flooding after a short, intense fall of rain.

MOUNTAIN

c. We are beginning to learn that much damage can be done in areas well ? the 100 year flood PLAIN

OUTSIDE

7. Urbanization can increase flooding due to: a. Excessive ? reduces permeability and infiltration of surface water into the ? .

PAVEMENT, GROUND

b. Moreover, excessive ? also allows water to move much more ? across the landscape.

PAVEMENT, QUICKLY

2. ? for flooding and disasters is generally underfunded. Elected officials feel constant pressure from ? to keep taxes low.

PLANNING, TAXPAYERS

1. Governments can simply ? flood prone property and use it as open space or as a ? —but this is often very ? Still, see the impressive effort made by the Suwannee River Water Management District to ? chunks of the Suwannee River floodplain.

PURCHASE, PARK, EXPENSIVE, BUY

e. In some basins, rivers respond ? to inputs of precipitation and in other cases they ? much more slowly. f. In fact, hydrologists have developed relatively sophisticated mathematical ? that allow water managers to ? a river's response to a given amount of precipitation.

QUICKLY, RISE, MODELS, PREDICT

High flood RISK areas include: 1. Low lying portions of ? floodplains. Moreover, while all rivers flood, not all rivers flood in the ? way. Remember, a river floodplain is simply that ? of the ? that does ? usually have water in it but which becomes a width wise extension of the river when the channel receives ? water (discharge) than it can handle.

RIVER, SAME, PORTION, LANDSCAPE, NOT, MORE

b. Rapid ? melt can create an excess of ? on the landscape and it can also lead to ? jams along rivers.

SNOW, WATER, ICE

c. Much also depends upon local geology, ? , ? , meteorology, antecedent conditions, and the ? of the drainage basin.

SOIL, VEGETATION, SIZE

4. Detention ponds, mostly in urban areas, temporarily ? water and ? it from becoming runoff.

STORE, PREVENT

1. Dams and reservoirs on rivers attempt to ? water for later release. According to Smith (2001, p.281), "Reservoirs for flood reduction work on the principle of storing excess ? in the upper drainage basin so that, by careful regulation, it can be successfully ? at a non damaging rate." Unfortunately, dams are ? to build and maintain and they are subject to siltation.

STORE, WATER, RELEASED, EXPENSIVE

A. Modify or reduce flooding by building ? intended to change the volume of surface runoff, reduce the peak stage of the flood, reduce the extent of ? flooded, change the time of concentration and direction, or reduce the velocity and ? of flood waters.

STRUCTURES, AREAS, DEPTH

c. ? drains are frequently inadequate or not properly maintained, and can become ? with excess water.

Storm WATER, QUICKLY over run

2. Dikes and levees that attempt to confine excess ? in rivers, lakes, and wetlands. We can (and have) built many dykes and levees along many sections of rivers and these can provide some protection within the design specifications.

WATER

5. Modify bridges and expand the size of culverts to prevent ? from backing up behind inadequate structures.

WATER

5. Places that have experienced much ? drainage can experience FLOODING because water storage areas are now occupied.

WETLAND

II. What have we done, and what can we do, about flooding? We can engage in reforestation, contour plowing, protect ? (many of which serve as natural water storage areas), protect vegetation from wildfires, ? , or clear cutting. Although many of these measures have proven successful over small drainage basins, "For ? basins the area to be treated is so large that it would take decades of reforestation and soil conservation to have any appreciable effect".

WETLANDS , OVERGRAZING, LARGE

6. Deforestation or severe ? can cause increased flooding.

WILDFIRES

C. Modifying the impact of flooding by investing in FLOOD zone ?, investment in post flood recovery (planning necessary to restore public facilities and ? in a timely fashion), providing government subsidized flood ? in exchange for adherence to tighter ? use controls.

education, SERVICES, insurance, LAND

There are three basic ways to reduce flood damage: A) attempts to modify or ? flooding B) modify a community's ? to flood damage C) modify the ? of flooding.

reduce, susceptibility, impact

a. Regions of LITTLE ? can be subjected to widespread flooding because gradients are so gentle that ? does not quickly remove water.

relief, GRAVITY

A. "The reason lies in the ? geographical distribution of ? floodplains and low lying ? , together with their long standing attractions for human settlement" (Smith, 2001, p.259).

widespread, RIVER, COASTS