The following material was compiled by Max Albert. It deals with floodplain issues. It is appropriate for all who live in, or are concerned with, floodplains.
* Nationally, floodplain policy is shifting its emphasis toward keeping urban development out. Such development, reports the Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force, comes at "a high price, extracted annually in personal injury, economic loss, and damage to or destruction of natural and cultural resources." The task force report concludes that existing management programs are inadequate, not only for flood storage, but for pollution control and habitat protection as well. (Floodplain Management in the United States: An Assessment Report, FIA-17, May/92)
* Despite spending $25 billion for flood control, inflation- adjusted damages per capita were almost 2.5 times greater in the period from 1951 to 1985 as from 1916 to 1950. Larry Larson, director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, says "We've got to help people understand that Mother Nature will reclaim what's hers from time to time. We must keep that in mind when we go to build our communities..." (The High Risks of Denying Rivers Their Floodplains - New York Times, 20/JUL/93)
* Taxpayer-subsidized insurance and flood control "create a false sense of security," says Scott Faber, Director of Floodplain Programs, "that may lead people, businesses, and communities to make decisions that increase the potential for large amounts of damage." (Testimony before U.S. House of Rep. Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, 28/JAN/98)
* Damages from 1996-97 floods in California were estimated at 1.6 billion, and Corps of Engineers Major Gen. Fuhrman was urging people not to rebuild in the floodplains. (Army Corps Says Relocation is Answer for Floodplains - Associated Press, Rocky Mountain News, 30/Mar/97)
* According to COE Director Brig. Gen. Stanley Genega, the best policy for limiting damage is to keep homes and businesses out of the floodplain in the first place. (Newsday, 23/JUL/93)
* "Every time we have a flood we are reminded how we have ignored the lessons of the past," says Gen. Gerald E. Galloway, head of the federal Floodplain Management Committee. Dr. Philip B. Williams, hydrologist and flood consultant, puts it another way: "The bottom line is that the long-term costs are borne by the taxpayer, but the short-term gainers always seem to win out." (California's Storm Brings Rethinking of Development - New York Times, 15/JAN/95)
* "Valley residents should never lose sight of the fact that the floodplain can only be borrowed; basically, it belongs to the river, which in accordance to physical laws, may demand its return at any time." (Stillaguamish River Flood Information Study - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
* The study goes on to say, "Anyone proposing to build or buy on the [Stillaguamish] floodplain should examine the colored Flood Topographic Map at the end of this report." On this map, the 30-year flood area shown in blue covers most of the Island Crossing UGA between I-5 and Smokey Point Blvd. The light-blue, 100-year area covers all the remaining valley. (Plate VI)
* Snohomish County River Engineer, Anthony Nahajski, issued this warning after the disastrous 1990 floods: "Generally, the danger is, people don't realize that [even] these floods are not real major floods. Much heavier floods are possible." (Everett Herald, 29/NOV/90)
* "Flooding [in Western Washington] has been made much worse by years of inattention to floodway management, inability to curb development along the river valleys, and accelerated logging of watersheds, according to more than a dozen experts interviewed by the Post-Intelligencer." (Seattle P-I, 12/27/90)
* According to the Washington State Emergency Management staff, the state has spent over $66 million on 9 floods since 1989, in addition to $170 million from the federal government-- most of it for damage in floodplains. This does not include millions in DOT highway and bridge repairs.
* In the Skagit River basin at Burlington, where extensive urban growth has taken place on the floodplain, the COE estimates that a 50-year flood would inflict $450 million to $500 million in damage. A remedial, by-pass channel would cost $80-100 million to construct.
* Arlington planners might heed Robert Boudinot, city engineer in nearby Stanwood, when he explained his town's chronic flooding and drainage predicament which will cost at least $4 million to alleviate. "The fundamental problem," he said, "is our forefathers chose to build on the [Stillaguamish] floodplain.
That was a mistake." (Everett Herald, 5/1/91)
Compiled by Max A. Albert (maxalbert@juno.com)
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