Coastal Services Center

Flooding Risk?

One of the main hazards associated with the coastal zone is flooding. It is a misconception that only properties adjacent to the coastline flood. In the last 33 years, 82 percent of deaths in the U.S. caused by tropical cyclones have been due to flooding. Inland flooding, as opposed to storm surge, has been responsible for 59 percent of flood-related deaths, and 63 percent of these deaths have occurred in inland counties (Rappaport 2000). Flooding does not always have such tragic consequences, often people escape with only property damage and loss of personal possessions. In the past, flood victims have been surprised to discover that their homeowner's insurance does not cover water damage (Drabek 1991).

Many homeowners mistakenly think they do not need flood insurance because of their understanding of the term 100-year flood. A 100-year flood is a flood that has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. It is not the flood that will occur once every 100 years. Rather, it is the flood elevation that has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded each year. Thus, the 100-year flood could occur more than once in a relatively short period of time. The 100-year flood, which is the standard used by most Federal and state agencies, is used by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as the standard for floodplain management and to determine the need for flood insurance. A structure located within a special flood hazard area shown on an NFIP map has a 26 percent chance of suffering flood damage during the term of a 30-year mortgage. (RVAT) Residents and prospective residents need to be familiar with whether properties are in the flood plain before buying.

Public Cost and Private Development

Local governments also face losses of infrastructure and public property when building in flood prone areas (Drabek 1991). In addition, the NFIP is subsidized by the federal government, which means that taxpayer dollars are used to pay flood claims. FEMA, a federal agency also funded by taxpayer dollars, responds when a disaster is declared to help victims. These programs are both beneficial and necessary. Yet, does it not make sense to minimize community risk by avoiding development in known flood hazard areas?

Local governments are responsible for creating local floodplain ordinances to govern how far back development must be from floodplains. Nonetheless, these ordinances must meet minimum Federal requirements. State and local governments are free to exceed those minimum set back distances to make their communities more disaster resistant. Moreover, public officials can be held liable for malfeasance when they knew of potential disasters and did not act to reduce the community's risk (Godschalk 1991).

What Programs Can Help Communities Address Hazards?

There are several federal programs that have been created to help address the issues of involved in Hazard Management. First, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), was designed to provide subsidies to local communities and home owners. The program enables property owners in participating communities to purchase protection against losses from flooding. Participation in the NFIP is based on the local community adopting specific floodplain management ordinances.

There is also the National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS). The CRS was implemented in 1990 as a program for recognizing and encouraging community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP standards. It provides discounts on flood insurance premiums if communities participate in mitigation activities. Another federal program designed to provide assistance at the state level is the Mitigation Assistance Program (MAP). The MAP provides financial assistance to States for the purpose of the development and maintenance of a comprehensive statewide hazard mitigation capability for the purpose of implementing pre- and post-disaster mitigation. It combines three categories of assistance: State Hazard Mitigation Program assistance (SHMP), for which all States and Territories are eligible; Hurricane Program (HP) hazard assistance, for which States and Territories subject to tropical storm hazards are eligible; and Earthquake Program (EP) hazard assistance for which States and Territories subject to seismic hazards are eligible.

In addition to federal programs, there has also been legislation aimed at addressing hazard related problems. The Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) was enacted in an effort to protect barriers islands from development. The act does not allow federal money to be used in the development and/or redevelopment of barrier islands. The act, however, does fall short of putting a moratorium on growth on barrier islands, since private resources can still be used to fund development in these areas. These are just a few of the federal resources available to communities across the country. Available below are several other resources and reference available via the Internet. There are also several on-line mapping tools available below.