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Some people wouldn’t dream of investing in a house constructed by a fly-by-night builder, yet they will place their life-savings in a house built on a floodplain. Building in floodplains has been costly. Billions of dollars—an average of $3.4 billion—are lost each year to floods. This costly error affects all of us with higher insurance, building costs, and relief programs to flood victims. The adverse publicity can also given the community a bad image. Worse still, is the loss of human lives. Since 1925, floods in the United States have killed over 4,000 people. Most -of the loss and damage could have been avoided had citizens, landuse planners and America’s real estate community heeded the advice and warnings of several public institutions.
For almost half a century, conservationists and planners have urged leaving floodplains (fairly level lands that border rivers, creeks, and coastal waters) to less intensive uses than houses and shopping centers.
Several agencies and organizations have floodplain information available for the asking. The USDA’s Soil Conservation Service has people in or assigned to almost every county in the United States. They provide assistance including information about floodplains free of charge. The Corp of Engineers also has floodplain data available. Local planning agencies, regional governmental bodies and zoning officials may also have useful material. Some have maps and floodprone areas clearly delineated.
All floodplains vary in size, shape, origin, and description, but they share one simple characteristic—from time to time they are covered by water
Desirable homesites are purchased every year with flooding, being the last possible thing on the minds of the buyers. The problem is, there are no guarantees. The big rain could come tomorrow, next week, or maybe 100 years from now. but it will come. Flooding can also be repetitive. Damaging storms often occur back-to-back during the same season.
Another contributing factor is changing conditions on the land. Upstream construction of houses, supermarkets, streets, and parking lots can drastically alter natural drainage patterns. The sealed surfaces r
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