Relocation From Flood Zones - Once Inconceivable - Rapidly Becoming Policy W. FEMA, HUD

[hatrack]

This week’s one-two punch of Hurricane Laura and Tropical Storm Marco may be extraordinary, but the storms are just two of nine to strike Texas and Louisiana since 2017 alone, helping to drive a major federal change in how the nation handles floods. For years, even as seas rose and flooding worsened nationwide, policymakers stuck to the belief that relocating entire communities away from vulnerable areas was simply too extreme to consider — an attack on Americans’ love of home and private property as well as a costly use of taxpayer dollars. Now, however, that is rapidly changing amid acceptance that rebuilding over and over after successive floods makes little sense.

The shift threatens to uproot people not only on the coasts but in flood-prone areas nationwide, while making the consequences of climate change even more painful for cities and towns already squeezed financially.

This month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency detailed a new program, worth an initial $500 million, with billions more to come, designed to pay for large-scale relocation nationwide. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has started a similar $16 billion program. That followed a decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to start telling local officials that they must agree to force people out of their homes or forfeit federal money for flood-protection projects. Individual states are acting, too. New Jersey has bought and torn down some 700 flood-prone homes around the state and made offers on hundreds more. On the other side of the country, California has told local governments to begin planning for relocation of homes away from the coast.

“Individuals are motivated. They’re sick of getting their homes flooded,” said Daniel Kaniewski, who until January was FEMA’s deputy administrator for resilience. “It’s not easy to walk away from your neighborhood. But it’s also not easy to face flooding on a regular basis.”

EDIT

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/climate/flooding-relocation-managed-retreat.html

[luv2fly]

1. Just brilliant

"Now, however, that is rapidly changing amid acceptance that rebuilding over and over after successive floods makes little sense."

Brilliant people these must be.

[Wicked Blue]

2. I grew up in a NJ town where there were frequent floods

Luckily we didn't live in the flood-prone area, but it affected all of us, cutting off main roads and keeping people from getting to work or school. First responders were accustomed to using boats to pull people off the roofs of their homes.

Nothing was done about it for years. The residents couldn't afford to move because they their homes were unsellable and they didn't have any other assets. Finally the feds provided money to buy out these homeowners so they could go elsewhere. As far as I know, most or all of these houses have been demolished.