Flood Risks

 

 

 

Our Plan To Manage Flood Risks For A Climate Resilient Nation

 

 

 

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Mitigating Flood Risks

Climate change is causing sea levels to rise and extreme weather to intensify, worsening the impacts of coastal, inland, and urban flooding. Unwise building and rebuilding in flood-prone areas, compounded by degradation of natural buffers against flooding and chronic underinvestment in flood hazard mitigation, is further increasing dangerous exposure to floods.

Federal flood standards that guide permitting and funding for community development, infrastructure, and disaster recovery have largely stagnated since the 1970s, enabling federal investment to continue in flood prone areas. Meanwhile, the National Flood Insurance Program suffers from outdated mapping, inadequate mitigation funding, and unaffordable costs for those who can least afford to be uninsured when floods strike.

 
 
 

The United States must invest in making communities more flood resilient by restoring natural floodplains and reducing the risks of loss of life and property in floods. The federal government must develop accurate and precise information on current and future flood risk and use risk-based flood standards to help communities decide how and where to grow and rebuild after disasters.

 

Reform federal flood risk standards to reflect the most recent projections of sea level rise and extreme rain events to ensure that federal investments support flood-ready communities and infrastructure, while reducing the risks and costs of future flood disasters.

Strengthen the National Flood Insurance Program by enhancing mapping of current and future flood risk, reducing uninsured loss, addressing insurance affordability, incentivizing preservation of flood-prone open space, ensuring that analyses reflect extreme rain events that overwhelm urban drainage systems, providing community-wide flood insurance, and improving flood risk disclosures for property transactions.

Enhance dam and levee safety standards and programs that provide technical assistance and funding to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to incorporate future flood risk, restore and integrate natural features, and reduce the risks of catastrophic system failures.

Help communities restore and protect naturally functioning coastal and riparian ecosystems that can filter and store floodwaters, reducing both flood risk and pollution.

Prevent toxic releases in storms by strengthening regulatory requirements for industrial facilities.

More on Flood Risks

Making the Case for Climate Action: The Growing Risks and Costs of Inaction

Apr 15, 2021 Hearing

At 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 15, 2021, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will hold a remote hearing titled “Making the Case for Climate Action: The Growing Risks and Costs of Inaction.” This hearing will take place remotely via Zoom video conferencing. 

Climate Crisis Committee To Hold Hearing on The Growing Risks and Costs of Inaction

Apr 9, 2021 Press Release
The hearing will explore the changes we are seeing in climate, the efforts underway to study those changes, and the economic risks and impacts the climate crisis poses to labor supply, human health, and the American economy.

Select Committee Democrats Release 'Solving The Climate Crisis', A Congressional Roadmap For Ambitious Climate Action

Jun 30, 2020 Press Release
“Our plan will put people back to work and rebuild in a way that benefits all of us. That means environmental justice and our vulnerable communities are at the center of the solutions we propose. The health of our families and the air we breathe are at the heart of our plan. We chart the course to good-paying jobs in solar and wind energy, in manufacturing American-made electric vehicles, and in strengthening communities, so they are more resilient to flooding, extreme heat, intense hurricanes and wildfires.”

Select Committee Holds Bipartisan Briefing On Extreme Weather Threats Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

May 21, 2020 Press Release
“State and local leaders across the nation are working to adjust emergency and disaster response plans — particularly around potential evacuations — to consider options to maintain public health practices, like physical distancing and ensuring adequate supplies of personal protective equipment,” said Chair Castor.

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