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Texas Politicians Question Stricter Flood Control Standards

mark handler

mark handler

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Texas Politicians Question Stricter Flood Control Standards

President Obama proposed new regulations in wake of superstorm Sandy

By Noreen O'Donnell

http://www.nbcdfw.com/weather/stories/Texas-Politicians-Question-Stricter-Flood-Control-Standards-305869811.html

In the months before deadly flooding in Texas killed at least 24 people, some of the state's politicians objected to the imposition of stricter building standards for federally-funded projects in floodplains.

Engineers said that such standards are needed if taxpayer money is not to be flushed away in the next flood.

An executive order from President Barack Obama, which has not yet been put into effect, substitutes a tougher flood risk standard when federal money is used to build or rebuild in the flood-prone areas.

U.S. representatives from Texas and elsewhere questioned how the order came about and whether as a result the administration's action is legal.

And if the order takes effect, many communities would be ineligible for such federal programs as port development projects, hazard mitigation grants and federally backed mortgages, the critics argue.

“The negative impact would likely dry up economic investment in these areas,” read an April 22 letter from 55 members of the House, including Rep. Pete Olson, a Republican whose district borders Houston, and 12 others from Texas.

An earlier letter signed by eight U.S. senators, including Texas Republican John Cornyn, similarly criticized the procedure that was followed in Obama's executive order.

But flood control experts said the more stringent standards are necessary to ensure that rebuilding in Texas is more resilient to future flooding, especially as the state asks for costly federal aid. Obama has already declared the recent flooding a disaster and promised that requests for aid would be expedited.

“Taxpayers are going to be asked, yet again, for disaster assistance funds to repair and rebuild,” said Chad Berginnis, the executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers in Madison, Wisconsin. "If the new standard was in place for this event and for all future events, we could ensure that the American public is getting a much better return on investment."

No Statewide Floodplain Management Plan

Texas received a “D” in flood control in a 2012 report on its infrastructure by the state’s section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. It ranks among the top states in the country in dollars paid for flood claims — behind Louisiana and New Jersey and ahead of New York and Florida. But it still has no statewide floodplain management plan. Flood mitigation is divided among three state agencies, none of which has full authority to implement capital projects or manage the state’s 23 river basins.

The report warns that the population of Texas is expected to double in the next 30 to 40 years and development in the floodplains will likely increase, both of houses and commercial developments near the state’s streams, rivers and lakes and along the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas is also not a participant in the National Flood Insurance Program, though many of its communities are, the report notes. Standard homeowners insurance does not cover flooding but residents can get insurance through the program provided their community participates. In return communities agree to meet or exceed Federal Emergency Management Agency requirements for reducing the risk of flooding.

Between 1978 and 2011, the FEMA paid nearly $5.5 billion in payments for 237,251 flood loss claims in Texas — payments that accounted for more than 13 percent of the total dollars paid in the country.
 
“This executive order as proposed, it’s very unclear as to how it would be applied,” said Hebert, who has written to FEMA with his concerns that the new standards will go beyond federal construction to encompass disaster preparedness assistance, federal highway aid and other funding.

If the tougher standard is applied only to federal property, he said he had no objections.

"But it doesn't say that," he said. "It doesn't restrict the order to that function."

Rebuilding on Floodplains

Carol Ellinger Haddock, the senior assistant director in Houston’s Infrastructure Planning Branch, was part of a team reporting on the need for a national strategy for flood risk management. The federal government is very good at helping people recover from floods, she said.

“But the opposite of that is all the land use decisions are made at the local level," she said.

Decisions on where buildings can be constructed in flood-prone areas and how are set at the local level and those can vary between communities, she said. Texas has to balance property taxes and other benefits from building with keeping people and buildings safe.

"When the flood comes, it doesn’t respect political boundaries," she said.

A strong attachment to private property rights has gotten the United States into a cycle of spiraling flooding losses, said Nicholas Pinter, who in August will join the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis. Mitigation is far more expensive than avoiding floodplains in the first place, he said.

“This is a not a short-term problem in Texas, this is a nation-wide imbalance,” he said. “This is the history of our development, management of our floodplains.”

After massive flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in 1993, the country spent $87 million in taxpayer funds to remove flooded structures, and stayed off the floodplain for three to five years, he said. But 10 years later, $2.2 billion of new infrastructure had been built on land that was under water.

“That’s the problem, it’s one step forward, two steps back,” he said.
 
JBI said:
Actually Mark K, those who ignore the physics of flood plains will cause others to pay the cost...
Click to expand...
You are correct, We all Pay

Just like those who live in fire prone areas.........Whom then complain about adding sprinklers
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The Executive Order is about taking control.

Excerpt; http://www.cfact.org/2015/04/07/floodplain-executive-order-latest-obama-power-grab/

Determining what constitutes “future flood risk” is closely tied to, in the President’s words, “a national policy on resilience and risk reduction consistent with my Climate Action Plan.” In other words, the administration’s policies to “combat climate change” will serve to justify the myriad rules, regulations, and standards Washington will impose on communities throughout the country in the name of protecting them from flooding. A regulatory regime is being put into place that will give Washington final say over what can and cannot be built and how structures – residential and commercial – are to be constructed and where.

In taking its micromanagement of American society down to the level of writing local building codes, the Obama Administration is bypassing both Congress and the federal rulemaking process. The goal is very simple: Make the populace, and the elected officials who supposedly represent them, subservient to Washington.
 
MONTANA WILDFIRE COST STUDY- TECHNICAL REPORT

http://headwaterseconomics.org/wildfire/montana-wildfire-costs

A Montana report found that, statewide, protecting homes from wildfires costs an average of $28 million annually. If development near fire-prone forests continues, costs to protect homes will rise to $40 million by 2025. A 1º F increase in summer temperatures would at least double home protection costs. Additional development and hotter summers combined could increase the annual cost to exceed $80 million by 2025.
 
Back to flooding for a moment...

I an assure you that incorporating reasonable safeguards into substantially reconstructed homes in flood prone areas is worth the cost. The south shore of Long Island is proof. hose who were forced (literally spiting and screaming) into compliance after Hurricane Irene sustained little to no damage during H. Sandy, with some exceptions.
 
JBI said:
Back to flooding for a moment...I an assure you that incorporating reasonable safeguards into substantially reconstructed homes in flood prone areas is worth the cost. The south shore of Long Island is proof. hose who were forced (literally spiting and screaming) into compliance after Hurricane Irene sustained little to no damage during H. Sandy, with some exceptions.
Click to expand...
As most of you are aware, several areas down here in and around Houston got flooded. Thankfully, I was safe, sound and dry. However, areas that had NEVER flooded before flooded this time. Areas that took heavy hits from hurricanes but didn't flood, flooded this time around; you just can't tell. By the same token, in many areas (that obviously have seen flooding in the past - like Galveston) the homes are built on stilts, basically 10 ft in the air.

I do have flood insurance, however it is not FEMA. I shopped around and am covered by Lloyds of London for less money than what the FEMA policy was charging me.
 
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