ASFPM Catalogs, Explains Flood-Mitigation Strategies: A Review
The Association of State Flood Plain Managers has an excellent, educational website called FloodRiskReduction.org. In a few pages, it explains floodplains, sources of flooding and how to understand flood risk. It also breaks down 39 flood-mitigation strategies for property owners, buyers, renters, community associations, officials, representatives, and others.
Part of the site’s magic is a search feature that helps readers zero in on strategies that might help them. It lets users filter strategies by factors such as cost, effort required, maintenance, type of real estate, foundation type, condition of structure and more. The strategies cover everything from DIY projects to those that require professionals.
Finally, the site comes with a list of resources to help implement the strategies.
Organized for Action
I love the organization of this site. Everything about it is designed to help people take action to protect themselves and their property.
“Flood risk is not static. It changes constantly due to development, erosion, land use changes, subsidence of the land, changes in rainfall patterns, sea level rise, and other factors.”
FloodRiskReduction.org
Focused on Mitigating Effects, Not Causes
Whereas ReduceFlooding.com gives concrete examples of how such factors interact in a small area so we can mitigate the causes, FloodRiskReduction.org skips to mitigating their effects.
It focuses mainly on telling people how to protect themselves and their property from rising floodwaters. In that sense, it’s a fundamentally different, but complimentary approach.
Wide Range of Strategies
The strategies range from home elevation to waterproofing, building relocation, grading and more. Much more. There’s even a section on demolishing a structure and rebuilding it outside of the floodplain and harm’s way.
My favorite, however, is “Flood-free site selection.” It talks about identifying flood hazards and their frequency as part of the home buying and/or homebuilding process. It focuses on avoidance as a form of mitigation.
Each of the strategies comes with a series of concrete steps you can take to reduce your flood risk.
For instance, “flood-free site selection” includes discussions of how to:
- Review FEMA flood maps
- Review nearby flood-protection structures such as dams
- Examine historical records
- Seek advice from local experts, such as floodplain managers.
Compare Options for Exploration
As you might expect from the photo above of a man who elevated his home by himself using a series of car jacks, ASFPM’s site comes with a long list of cautions and disclaimers.
Regardless, FloodRiskReduction can help educate people about their options in an afternoon. It’s a quick, simple list of thought-starters and a great way to compare options to explore.
For ease of future reference, I will post a link to the ASFPM site in the links page of ReduceFlooding.com.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/12/24
2358 Days since Hurricane Harvey
