Floodplain management : a new approach for a new era
A flooding river is very hard to stop. Many residents of the United States have discovered this the hard way. Right now, over five million Americans hold flood insurance policies from the National Flood Insurance Program, which estimates that flooding causes at least six billion dollars in damages every year. Like rivers after a rainstorm, the financial costs are rising along with the toll on residents. And the worst is probably yet to come. Most scientists believe that global climate change will result in increases in flooding. The authors of this book present a straightforward argument: the time to stop a flooding rivers is before is before it floods. Floodplain Management outlines a new paradigm for flood management, one that emphasizes cost-effective, long-term success by integrating physical, chemical, and biological systems with our societal capabilities. It describes our present flood management practices, which are often based on dam or levee projects that do not incorporate the latest understandings about river processes. And it suggests that a better solution is to work with the natural tendencies of the river: retreat from the floodplain by preventing future development (and sometimes even removing existing structures); accommodate the effects of floodwaters with building practices; and protect assets with nonstructural measures if possible, and with large structural projects only if absolutely necessary
Case studies
1 online resource (x, 242 pages) : illustrations, maps
9781610911320, 1610911326
750192409
Floods are not the problem. Case study: Louisa County, Iowa
A new vocabulary. Case study: Snoqualmie, Washington
Rivers and floodplains. Case study: Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin
Natural processes must drive solutions. Case study: New York, New York
Our relationship to rivers. Case study: Chicago, Illinois
Approaches: structural and nonstructural. Case study: Buck Hollow River, Oregon
Capabilities and tools. Case study: Davenport, Iowa
Strategies: work with, not against, rivers. Case study: flooding of I-5 in Washington
Choosing the best strategy. case study: Tulsa, Oklahoma
What next? case study: Rivergrove