Floodplain Management Study

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.

Our changing climate and more extreme weather events have dramatically increased the number and severity of floods across the world. Demonstrating the diversity of global flood risk management (FRM), this volume covers a range of topics including planning and policy, risk governance and communication, forecasting and warning, and economics. Through short case studies, the range of international examples from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa provide analysis of FRM efforts, processes and issues from human, governance and policy implementation perspectives. Written by an international set of authors, this collection of chapters and case studies will allow the reader to see how floods and flood risk management is experienced in different regions of the world. The way in which institutions manage flood risk is discussed, introducing the notions of realities and social constructions when it comes to risk management. The book will be of great interest to students and professionals of flood, coastal, river and natural hazard management, as well as risk analysis and insurance, demonstrating multiple academic frameworks of analysis and their utility and drawbacks when applied to real-life FRM contexts.

Floodplain Management in Australia comprises a full and detailed discussion of best practice principles and guidelines of floodplain management in Australia. These principles and guidelines have been developed to assist all levels of government, the private sector and the community to manage, in partnership, the flood risk associated with Australia's floodplains on a sustainable basis for the benefit of both present and future generations. The book provides a better understanding of flood behaviour, flood risk and the consequences of flooding. It puts forward the ways in which these issues can be addressed using best practice guidelines to foster the optimal use of the nation's floodplains. It consists of five Chapters and 16 Appendices, a glossary of technical terms and a list of references and further reading. The main text is preceded by a summary of best practice principles for floodplain management

This volume provides a comprehensive perspective on geomorphic approaches to management of lowland alluvial rivers in North America and Europe. Many lowland rivers have been heavily managed for flood control and navigation for decades or centuries, resulting in engineered channels and embanked floodplains with substantially altered sediment loads and geomorphic processes. Over the past decade, floodplain management of many lowland rivers has taken on new importance because of concerns about the potential for global environmental change to alter floodplain processes, necessitating revised management strategies that minimize flood risk while enhancing environmental attributes of floodplains influenced by local embankments and upstream dams. Recognition of the failure of old perspectives on river management and the need to enhance environmental sustainability has stimulated a new approach to river management. The manner that river restoration and integrated management are implemented, however, requires a case study approach that takes into account the impact of historic human impacts to the system, especially engineering. The river basins examined in this volume provide a representative coverage of the drainage of North America and Europe, taking into account a range of climatic and physiographic provinces. They include the 1) Sacramento (California, USA), 2) San Joaquin (California), 3) Missouri (Missouri, USA), 4) Red (Manitoba, Canada and Minnesota, USA), 5) Mississippi (Louisiana, USA), 6) Kissimmee (Florida, USA), 7) Ebro (Spain), 8) Rhone (France), 9) Rhine (Netherlands), 10) Danube (Romania), and 11) Volga (Russian Federation) Rivers. The case studies covered in these chapters span a range of fluvial modes of adjustment, including sediment, channel, hydrologic regime, floodplains, as well as ecosystem and environmental associations.

Floods cause distress and damage wherever and whenever they happen. Flooding from rivers, estuaries and the sea threatens many millions of people worldwide and economic and insurance losses from flooding have increased significantly since 1990. Based on the work of leading researchers, this book provides an overview of advances in this important subject. It covers all aspects of flood risk including the causes of floods; their impacts on people, property and the environment; and portfolios of risk management measurement. Additional topics include climate change, estimation of extremes, flash floods, flood forecasting and warning, inundation modeling, systems analysis, uncertainty, international programs, and flood defense infrastructure and assets. The book also examines environmental, human, and social impacts; vulnerability and resilience; risk sharing; and civil contingency planning and emergency management.

This research presents a computer-based scheme for evaluating land use and engineering alternatives for flood plain management and includes a test application. The management alternatives considered in the report include spatial and temporal distribution of urban land uses, site elevation through dirt fill, flood proofing, open space, public land acquisition and engineering measures. A linear programming approach is employed for the study. (Modified author abstract).