Mitigation Best Practices

DAUPHIN ISLAND, AL - Only a year after they were built, the homes at 1301 and 1303 Chaumont experienced their first flood damage from Hurricane Camille in August 1969. After years of repetitive losses, however, Hurricane Ivan (2004) did no further damage to either home. The homeowners and the Town of Dauphin Island had taken action to permanently eliminate or reduce the flood risk to these structures.

ABERDEEN, OH - Ohio River flooding is nothing new to the Village of Aberdeen and its population of 545. Before March 1997, the historic riverfront community about 50 miles east of Cincinnati had lived through five major 20th century flood events (1913, '36, '37, '59 and '96).

HENRY, LA – Five years ago, when Craig Lee began planning the construction of his Vermilion Parish home, he learned he would be required to elevate his new house more than eight feet above grade in order to receive a building permit. He did not understand the parish’s requirement to elevate, because his brother’s house was on-grade, on the same piece of land, and in 25 years had never flooded.

“Why so high?” Craig wondered.

TANGIER ISLAND, VA - As a third generation Tangier Island resident, Sarah Crockett is no stranger to storm tides and the damages they create. “With [Hurricane] Floyd [1999] the water got into my house, ruined the carpets and floor and stuff. Tide came in once before, too, but that was long ago.” After floodwaters broke into her home, she decided it was time to put a stop to it.

GUAM - Dawn Santos is no stranger to disasters. After all, she lived in Guam for 15 years. "I lived through several typhoons," Santos recalls. But when Typhoon Omar swept through the island in 1992, the Santos family lost everything. Their house and possessions were destroyed.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center Parnassus serves as the main campus for UCSF’s medical program, as well as a Children’s Hospital, several research labs, and the center for the Dental and Nursing programs. Located in San Francisco near Golden Gate Park, this fifteen story structure is in a neighborhood that has a high likelihood of significant damage after a major seismic event.

NORTH DAKOTA - When the Red River of the North flooded in April of 1997, several pieces of very costly equipment were submerged in the basement of a building at University of North Dakota. The equipment was immobile due to its weight and size.

A very simple and cost effective measure was taken: the addition of wheels. By mounting wheels on the large research equipment, employees can now roll the equipment into the elevator and up to a higher and safer floor.

MICHIGAN - On July 2, 1997, a series of tornadoes and straight-line winds resulted in several deaths and millions of dollars damage in southeast Michigan. Communities were faced with downed power lines, blocked streets, downed and damaged trees, and mountains of tree debris. Many of the problems were associated with the infrastructure and building damage impacted by large older trees. The clean up took months.

DUPAGE COUNTY, IL - As a large county in Illinois with an active water resources management program, DuPage County has developed its own, highly advanced methodology for modeling the flood hazard. Its principal goal in the Cooperative Technical Partner (CTP) program is to integrate their water resources management efforts with the NFIP program so the FEMA FIRMs will reflect the most up-to-date flood hazard information available for the county.

DENVER, CO - On May 17, 1999, Denver’s Urban Drainage and Flood Control District (UDFCD) became one of the first partners to sign an agreement with FEMA under the Cooperating Technical Communities (CTC) initiative (now Cooperating Technical Partners [CTP] initiative). As Scott Tucker, Executive Director of UDFCD, sees it, "The thrust of the [CTP initiative] is for us to work together to create and maintain accurate up-to-date flood hazard data for the 32 communities participating in the National Flood Insurance Program which are served by [UDFCD]."