Jefferson County - East-West Gateway Coordinating Council

A Regional Overview All-Hazard Mitigation Plan 35
Recommendation
In 1996, MDNR/DGLS, Dick Gaffney prepared a Flood Analysis Report, based on four
documents: The Report and Recommendations of the Governor’s Task Force on Flood Plain
Management on behalf of Governor Carnahan, July, 1994; The Floods of ’93, State of
Missouri -- The Federal Interagency Hazard Mitigation Team, Report For the Three
Presidential Disaster Declarations in Missouri, April, 1994, as set up by FEMA under 1988
Stafford Act; Sharing the Challenge: Floodplain Management into 21 st Century -- The
Report of the Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee to the
Administration (Whitehouse) Floodplain Management Task Force; A Blueprint for Change,
June, 1994 and National Flood Policy in Review-1994 by Association of State Floodplain
Managers (ASFPM). Recommendations made by these documents are summarized below:
All four post-flood reports recommend that the state should take an active role in
flood plain management, determine state flood plain management, determine state
flood plain management policy and implement it.
The reports generally agreed that the hydrology of the Missouri and the Mississippi
rivers should be reviewed, with the possible result that base flood elevations should
be recalculated and new flood maps issued.
The encouragement of participation in the National Flood Insurance Program, both
by communities and individual property owners was stressed to the point that
recommendations stated that post-flood disaster assistance to those not insured
should be limited, reduced or withheld. The problems of mortgage lenders and
borrowers were addressed and escrow of premiums for flood insurance was
emphasized.
Maintaining flood insurance purchase requirements behind levee protection works
was recommended. Further, it was recommended that the state develop a
definition of market value to assure compliance with flood insurance regulations,
dealing with substantial damages.
Levees, levee districts, levee protection systems, state levee permits, levee
construction criteria, levee repairs and levee heights were addressed by the four
reports as a result of the levee failures in the 1993 flooding. More state
involvement in this topic was universally recommended, especially with regard to
oversight and permits. These recommendations imply that it is critical with respect
to property owners and their lives that the flood stages remain stable (does not
fluctuate as a result of levees built upstream). The aggregate result will be to
increase the flood danger by increasing the height and velocity of river flow during
floods.
Greater environmental sensitivity and increased state government involvement in
flood plain matters was stressed in the post-flood reports. Public health and safety
during flood events was also stressed, especially in regard to hazardous materials.
Government agencies should inventory their property to determine their
vulnerability to future flooding.
Federal agencies should collaborate on an assessment of effectiveness of stream
gauging network and flood forecasting/models.