Interdisciplinary Planning of Nonstructural Flood Hazard Mitigation

An interdisciplinary team consisting of representatives from state government and academia has developed an innovative flood risk management plan that combines a large-scale ''nonstructural'' hazard mitigation plan with portions of a federally authorized plan previously developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Separate elements of the federally authorized plan were considered for inclusion in the alternative plan based on the estimates of each element's marginal benefit/cost ratio, potential environmental impacts, and level of consistency with current policy. The plan involves retrofitting approximately 1,500 residential and nonresidential structures in the 100-year floodplain and requires development of a structure-by-structure flood proofing benefit/cost analysis computer program. At less than half the cost, the alternative plan achieves flood risk management goals in a significantly more cost-effective manner for an environmentally sensitive area.