Federal Flood Policy Challenges: Lessons from the 2008 Midwest Flood

Nicole T. Carter
Specialist in Natural Resources Policy

Floods remain a significant hazard in the United States. Developing and investing in flood-prone areas represents a tradeoff between the location's economic and other benefits and the exposure to a flood hazard. In the United States, flood mitigation, protection, emergency response, and recovery roles and responsibilities are shared. Local governments are responsible for land use and zoning decisions that shape floodplain and coastal development. State and federal programs, policies, and investments influence community and individual decisions on managing flood risk. The federal government constructs some of the nation's dams and levees, offers flood insurance, supports nonstructural risk reduction actions (known as hazard mitigation), and provides emergency response and disaster aid. 

In June 2008, a series of storms in several midwestern states caused $15 billion in damages. The 2008 flooding drew comparisons to the devastating 1993 Midwest flood and raised questions about whether the lessons from the 1993 flood were heeded. In 1993, hundreds of levees throughout much of the basin were breached in the Midwest causing $30 billion in damages; much of the damage was agricultural and occurred in soaked upland areas. In contrast, the majority of the 2008 damages were concentrated along a few Mississippi River tributaries and in population centers with breached levees. The magnitude of the two floods simply overwhelmed the region's levees and dams, illustrating that some residual risk remains to people and investment behind these protective structures. Since 1993, emergency response and hazard mitigation programs have reduced risks in some Midwest communities; however, the region's flood risk continues to increase as more investments and people are located in flood-prone areas. 

Since 1993, Congress, federal agencies, state, and local governments have taken steps aimed at reducing the nation's flood risk; at the same time, climate, population, and investment trends have increased the threat, vulnerability, and consequences of flooding. For example, Congress authorized using federal disaster assistance to cover more of the costs to acquire, relocate or elevate flood-prone homes and businesses. However, broader efforts to adopt a comprehensive flood policy and management strategy have not been pursued. The fundamental direction and approach of the national policies and programs remain largely unchanged since 1993. A comprehensive strategy would require regulation of floodplain use, significant changes to federal programs, and increased investment in flood risk reduction by all levels of government. Although they would reduce flood risk, these changes face significant opposition. 

The 2008 Midwest flooding, Hurricane Ike in 2008, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 have renewed interest in the suite of tools available to improve flood resiliency. The issue for Congress is deciding on whether and how to enact and implement feasible and affordable flood policies and programs to reduce flood risk. The challenge is how to structure federal actions and programs so they provide incentives to reduce flood risk without unduly infringing on private property rights or usurping local decision making. Tackling this challenge would require adjustments in the flood insurance program, disaster aid policies and practices, and programs for structural and nonstructural flood risk reduction measures and actions. 

Date of Report: January 27, 2010
Number of Pages: 42
Order Number: R40201
Price: $29.95

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