Floods are the costliest natural hazard events in the United States in terms of lives and property losses. The financial costs of flood disasters are unsustainable, especially for the national government, which assumes the most costs while state and local governments have the greatest ability to avoid great losses due to their influence over land use, economic policy, and other areas that can help mitigate floods and reduce the high costs of relief and recovery. This article summarizes the types, causes, and occurrence of floods in the United States and their unsustainable economic and social costs. It explains that the growing burden to taxpayers from disaster response and recovery has resulted in increased interest by national decision makers in shifting more disaster responsibilities and costs to state and local governments. The article reviews the broad tool kit of mitigation strategies available to local governments and their residents in taking greater responsibility for the impacts of flood events.
ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers). 2017. 2017 Infrastructure Report Card. www.infrastructurereportcard.org (accessed April 29, 2017).
2.
BrandesUweLeBlancAlice. 2013. Risk & Resilience in Coastal Regions. Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute.
3.
BurbyRaymond H.FrenchSteven P.CiglerBeverly A.KaiserEdward J.MoreauDavid H.StiftelBruce. 1985. Flood Plain Land Use Management: A National Assessment. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
4.
CiglerBeverly A.1988a. Current policy issues in mitigation. In Managing Disaster: Strategies and Policy Perspectives, edited by ComfortLouise K., 39–53. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
5.
CiglerBeverly A.1988b. Emergency management and public administration. In Crisis Management: A Casebook, edited by CharlesMichael T.KimJohn Choon K., 5–19. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
6.
CiglerBeverly A.1996. Local flood hazard management: Lessons from national research. In Cities and Disaster: North American Studies in Emergency Management, edited by SylvesRichard T.WaughWilliam L.Jr. 59–74. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
7.
CiglerBeverly A.2006. Hurricane Katrina: Two intergovernmental challenges. The Public Manager35:3–7.
8.
CiglerBeverly A.2007. The ‘big questions’ of Katrina and the 2005 great flood of New Orleans. Public Administration Review67:64–76.
9.
CiglerBeverly A.2009. Post-Katrina hazard mitigation on the gulf coast. Public Organization Review9:325–41.
10.
CBO (Congressional Budget Office). 2013. Potential Cost Savings from the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program. Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office, The Congress of the United States.
11.
CostanzaRobertPerez-MaqueoOctavioLuisa MartinezM.SuttonPaulAndersonSharolyn J.MulderKenneth. 2008. The Value of Coastal Wetlands for Hurricane Protection, AMBIO. A Journal of the Human Environment37:241–48.
Heinz Center and Ceres. 2009. Resilient Coasts: A Blueprint for Action. Washington, DC: Heinz Center and Ceres.
16.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2007. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. edited by ParryMartin L.CanzianiOsvaldo F.PalutikofJean P.van der LindenPaul J.HansonClair E.Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
17.
KouskyCarolyn. 2017. Financing flood losses: A discussion of the national flood insurance program. Discussion paper 17-03, Resources for the Future, Washington, DC.
National Institute of Building Sciences/Multihazard Mitigation Council. 2005. Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: An Independent Study to Assess the Future Savings from Mitigation Activities, Vol. 1. Washington, DC: National Institute of Building Sciences.
23.
StrombergDavid. 2007. Natural disasters, economic development, and humanitarian aid. Journal of Economic Perspectives21:199–22.
UNISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat). 2013. From Shared Risk to Shared Value –The Business Case for Disaster Risk Reduction. Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
