Mitigation Best Practices

PENSACOLA, FL - Tom and Jennie Smith of Gulf Breeze, Florida, do not park their cars in an ordinary garage. The couple has to weave their cars between pilings that support the house above. The tops of the 7-foot-1-inch tall concrete pilings are 5 feet 1 inch above Florida coastal building code requirements. The extra height planned into the pilings saved the home from thousands of dollars worth of damage when Hurricane Ivan struck the Gulf Coast in September 2004.

CATAHOULA PARISH, LA – Catahoula Parish has had a tumultuous relationship with the Ouachita and Black Rivers as these rivers are prone to high-velocity flooding. Soil erosion occurs naturally, but certain factors such as water and wind can accelerate, and worsen, its effects. In the parish, floodwaters from the rivers damaged nearby roadways, prompting parish officials to seek mitigation measures to break the cycle of destruction and repair.

MOORE, OK –When a massive tornado was sweeping across central Oklahoma on May 20, 2013, Mindy Chaddock and nine family members quickly took refuge in her mother’s underground safe room. The house above them was reduced to rubble, but the family survived.

As the day began, there was little indication that an EF-5 tornado would soon take the lives of 24 people, including 10 children, and destroy 1,200 homes.

HOUSTON, TX – With wind gusts approaching 100 miles per hour (mph), Hurricane Ike (September 2008) roared into Houston as a Category 2 storm, peeling sheets of steel off skyscrapers, downing power lines and trees, blowing out windows, and dumping mountains of debris. As the storm raged, patients at Houston Hospice were securely tucked away behind hurricane shutters.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX – Richard Ehrlich, a South Padre Island building inspector and builder, knew all too well what Hurricane Dolly could do to the three housing units he had built on this trendy barrier island. He says Dolly was “like blasting your house with a car wash sprayer, for hours and hours.”

ASHEVILLE, NC - When the Swannanoa River broke its banks and swamped the Biltmore business district of Asheville, N.C. in early Sept. 2004, tough new building ordinances kept a number of businesses high and dry. Unfortunately, many older buildings surrounding them suffered extensive flood damage, and in some cases, were destroyed.

VILLA GROVE, IL - Located along the Embarras River, Villa Grove, a small town of only 2,553 residents, is prone to flash floods as well as river flooding. The Jordan Slough and the Embarrass River are of significant relevance. In 1994, there was a flood of record, which warranted coverage by CNN. It was during this event that Jackie Athey, City Clerk for Villa Grove, found herself in a quandary as to how to handle the flood.

OTTAWA, IL - Ottawa, Illinois, is located in a beautiful valley at the confluence of the Fox and Illinois Rivers. But it is this location that has caused the City to suffer significant damage from floods.