NOTE: The data used for the reports did not include the 1996 floods in Washington state, but the lessons learned and the suggestions made in the report apply to the Chehalis Watershed flood problems.
Until the mid- 1980s, Tulsa, Oklahoma, had the dubious distinction of being America's most flooded city. Some homes had been flooded and rebuilt as many as five times in six years. But after a foot of rain fell on Memorial Day 1984, causing the most devastating flood in the city's history and $180 million in losses, Tulsa residents decided to get serious about floodplain management.
More than 900 buildings have been bought and relocated or rebuilt on higher ground by the city of Tulsa. The floodplain is now devoted to wildlife habitat, parks and 50 miles of biking, walking and jogging paths. As a result, recent floods have caused virtually no damage.
Tulsa is cited as "an outstanding example of how a community can use modem floodplain management to assist its citizens and the environment" in a new NWF report, "Higher Ground."
The report assesses the national program
for voluntary buyouts of floodprone properties that NWF helped persuade Congress to expand in the wake of the 1993 Midwest floods.
Other methods have failed to stem flood losses, the report notes. Although the Army Corps of Engineers has spent more than $25 billion on flood control projects in the past 25 years, the annual cost of floods has escalated steadily to a current level of more than $4 billion a year. And though the flood-insurance program requires properties suffering major damage to be moved or elevated, many in fact are rebuilt in place and continue to suffer flood damage, NWF's analysis shows.
"Many communities are not fully aware of all the resources now available to assist with voluntary buyouts," says David Conrad, NWF's "Higher Ground" project director.
"We hope
this report will be a truly useful tool at the local level to encourage consideration of this option."
For more information about the report, contact Conrad at NWF, 1400 16th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036 or e-mail conrad@nwf.org.
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