|
Floodplain Management Program/NFIP
Flooding is a natural phenomenon.
Periodically, rain and melting snow cause rivers to rise and streams and lakes to
overflow their banks onto adjacent land. Floods have carved these areas, known as
floodplains, out for the specific purpose of carrying excess floodwaters.
As settlements and communities formed, little regard was given to the purpose and
function of floodplains. Homes, businesses, and even whole communities have been
built in floodplain areas. The development of these floodplains has resulted in
continual and oftentimes severe social and economical loss.
Traditionally, planning for flood control has focused on protecting existing
development(s) through structural works such as dams, diversions, or levees, and
providing emergency relief and recovery assistance to flood victims following a
disaster.
These approaches are expensive, and have been totally effective in reducing flood
damages. Despite considerable expenditure on flood control works, annual damages
due to flooding continue to rise. It is apparent that another alternative is needed,
one that gets to the root of the problem: man's insistence to use and occupy flood
hazard areas.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) provides that alternative. This law
recognizes and encourages the need to control development in floodplains and to protect
people from harm by relocating people and not floodwaters. It does not prohibit, but
guide development in floodplain areas, balancing nature's needs to convey floodwaters,
and a community's land use needs. Congress created NFIP in 1968, offering nonstructural
approaches to reduce flood damage. The program makes flood insurance available to
property owners in flood - prone communities. In return each community agrees to guide
future floodplain development. It requires local governments to adopt and enforce
floodplain regulations, meeting federal requirements, before flood insurance can be
obtained in their community.
Floodplain management is the operation of a community program of corrective and
preventative measures for reducing flood damage. These measures take a variety of forms
and generally include zoning, subdivision, or building requirements, and special - purpose
floodplain ordinances.
Prior to the creation of the NFIP, floodplain management as a practice was not well
established, only a few states and several hundred communities actually regulated
floodplain development. For many communities, the NFIP was the community's initial
exposure to land use planning and community regulations.
A community's agreement to adopt and enforce floodplain management ordinances, particularly
with respect to new construction is an important element in making flood insurance available
to home and business owners. Currently over 186 communities in Utah
(view the Community Status List)
voluntarily adopt and enforce local floodplain management ordinances that provide flood loss
reduction building standards for new and existing development. There is 600 plus flood map
panels for Utah. For more information on the NFIP, please contact Judy Watanabe at
(801) 538 - 3750, or judywatanabe@utah.gov.
Click on a link below for more information about floods
|
|
