The Nation's Responses To Flood Disasters: A Historical Account

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the Association of State Floodplain Managers for providing the opportunity to carry out this study. A special debt is owed to Gilbert F. White for his encouragement. Without it, I would not have had the motivation and courage needed for this undertaking. In addition, the project would not have been possible without the financial support of James Compton, President of The Compton Foundation, Saratoga, California. Appreciation also goes to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for providing funds to edit the manuscript, and to Wendy Hessler for technical editing assistance. I also wish to thank the following distinguished individuals who reviewed a draft of the document. All of them have contributed in numerous ways, during a period of decades, to shaping our nation’s history of dealing with floods. Their comments greatly contributed to improving the accuracy and content of the present work. • Gerald E. Galloway, Jr., Secretary, U.S. Section, International Joint Commission; Brigadier General, U.S. Army Retired; former Dean, U.S. Military Academy. • Larry A. Larson, P.E., Executive Director, Association of State Floodplain Managers. • Martin Reuss, Senior Historian, Office of History, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ft. Belvoir, VA. • Michael Robinson, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC. • Frank Thomas, Mitigation Consultant; former Deputy Associate Director, Mitigation Directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC. • Gilbert F. White, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder. James M. Wright Knoxville, Tennessee April 2000
CONTENTS Overview......................................................................................................................1 1 Pre-20th Century: Issues of Federal Authority and Responsibility...................3 The Genesis of a Problem...........................................................................................3 Growing Federal Government Involvement................................................................4 2 The Early 20th Century: A Growing Federal Interest........................................7 A Period of Floods and Acts ......................................................................................7 Federal Government Assumes Larger Role...............................................................11 3 The 1930s to the 1960s: Broadening Solutions to the Nation’s Flood Problems.............................................................................................................13 Calls for a Broader Approach...................................................................................13 Evolving views on Human Adjustment to Floods: Harlan H. Barrows and Gilbert F. White...................................................................................................13 Land Use Planning: A. J. Gray, Jim Goddard, and the TVA Experiment...................16 The University of Chicago Studies ...........................................................................21 The First Urban Floodplain Mapping Study..............................................................23 Regulating FlooDplains: An Idea Whose Time Had Come .......................................23 The Corps’ Expanding Role in Broader Approaches.................................................24 The U.S. Geological Survey’s Role ..........................................................................26 The Soil Conservation Service Prepares Local Flood Studies....................................27 Several States Lead the Way in Floodplain Management..........................................27 Bureau of the Budget Task Force on Federal Flood Control Policy...........................29 Moving Closer to a Balanced Approach ...................................................................31 4 The 1970s and 1980s: The Flood Insurance Era................................................33 A National Flood Insurance Program .......................................................................33 National floodplain mapping begins ....................................................................36 Land use regulations ...........................................................................................37 Government establishes FEMA and buyout programs ..........................................37 State and local assistance ....................................................................................38 The Coastal Barrier Resources Act and continued deregulation ...........................38 Insurance: Privatizing policies and reducing premiums ......................................39 New programs, technology, and information bolster community participation .....40 The Water Resources Council ..................................................................................41 Towards a Unified National Program for Floodplain Management ...........................44 The Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force ..................................45 Floodplain Management Activities of Other Federal Agencies .................................46 The Army Corps of Engineers ..............................................................................46 Tennessee Valley Authority ..................................................................................48 Soil Conservation Service ....................................................................................50 U.S. Geological Survey ........................................................................................51
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The 1990s: Disaster Assistance Prev
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APPENDIX B: SELECT PUBLICATIONS, FE
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GLOSSARY ASFPM, “the Association
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