Mitigation Best Practices

VINTON, IA - Anthony and Jackie Behounek live along the Cedar River outside the City of Vinton, Iowa. When a record flood in May 2008 hit the rural area, the Behouneks left their home to stay with Jackie’s mother. After the flood, they returned home, relieved to find that the 7½ feet of water had left their elevated home untouched.

OLYMPIA, WA - On February 28, 2001, Mrs. Mallinger was at home when she felt shaking and realized that there was an earthquake. During the two phases of the earthquake, books, glassware, CDs, pottery and some pictures fell. The power and water to her home did not shut down but the telephone was out of service. When Mrs. Mallinger was able to check her home more thoroughly, she found that the shaking had been severe enough to cause a ceiling light fixture in the garage to fall, and new cracks in the foundation.

BASTROP, TX – On Sunday, September 4, 2011, a firestorm engulfed Bastrop County, Texas, destroying 1,688 homes, burning more than 34,000 acres, and claiming two lives. The Bastrop County Complex Fire was the most devastating wildfire in Texas’ history and steps are being taken to protect residents and prevent history from repeating itself.

NORTH CAROLINA - The State of North Carolina, FEMA, and numerous other Federal, State and local agencies entered a Cooperating Technical Partner (CTP) agreement September 15, 2000—the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Floyd. Under the agreement, the state will assume primary ownership of, and responsibility for, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for all North Carolina communities. The project includes conducting flood-hazard analyses and producing updated, digital FIRMs.

NORTHPORT, AL – The Northport Housing Authority’s mission is to provide decent and affordable housing in a safe and secure living environment for low- and moderate- income residents. The facility offers residents opportunities to participate in a multitude of community, educational, and recreational programs, including preparedness.

What looks like a “picnic in the park” is really the facility’s Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) Disaster Awareness Day.

TAYLOR COUNTY, TX – If only the people of Merkel, Texas knew then what they know now.

“Then” was before extensive rainfall last August flooded a neighborhood, damaging 60 homes that never had flood damage before.

“Then” was when townspeople couldn’t buy flood insurance because the town did not participate in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

OKLAHOMA - In Spring, travelers throughout Oklahoma learn ways to decrease their risks for damage when severe weather comes to their neighborhoods. Each April, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM) partners with private and public entities to spearhead a month-long, public education campaign. During the campaign, people learn readiness tips for weather events like tornadoes, floods, ice storms, and hail.

FORT COLLINS, CO – On July 28, 1997, Fort Collins was devastated by the Spring Creek flood that claimed the lives of five people and injured 54 more. Causing more than $200 million in damages, it destroyed 200 homes and damaged 1,500 homes and businesses.

Fort Collins is located on the Cache La Poudre River with the potential for flooding from Spring Creek, Dry Creek, Fossil Creek, Cooper Slough and Boxelder Creek. Before the 1997 flood, city officials had completed $5 million in mitigation measures, actions that were credited with saving lives.

AUSTIN, MN - In the spring of 2000, floodwaters in Austin, Minnesota, crested at 23.4 feet, the highest on record. But far fewer homes received flood damage than in the multiple flood events of the last 30 years. A first-of-its-kind acquisition program was conducted after two major floods in 1978. With additional buyouts occurring after succeeding floods, a total of 163 structures were eventually removed from the flood plain - before the flood of 2000.

OCEAN COUNTY, NJ – Wrecked and ruined homes and shipwrecked boats were the haunting images embedded in the minds of many residents of New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the coast in late October 2012. The storm caused the Atlantic Ocean to create vast flooding that inundated much of the state’s coast. Some homes in Tuckerton Beach, a waterfront neighborhood within the Borough of Tuckerton, were washed completely off their foundations and others sustained major damage from the high velocity waves and the surge that flooded the area.