Floodplain Management

Floodplain Management PDF Author: Bob Freitag
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610911326
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
A flooding river is very hard to stop. Many residents of the United States have discovered this the hard way. Right now, over five million Americans hold flood insurance policies from the National Flood Insurance Program, which estimates that flooding causes at least six billion dollars in damages every year. Like rivers after a rainstorm, the financial costs are rising along with the toll on residents. And the worst is probably yet to come. Most scientists believe that global climate change will result in increases in flooding. The authors of this book present a straightforward argument: the time to stop a flooding rivers is before is before it floods. Floodplain Management outlines a new paradigm for flood management, one that emphasizes cost-effective, long-term success by integrating physical, chemical, and biological systems with our societal capabilities. It describes our present flood management practices, which are often based on dam or levee projects that do not incorporate the latest understandings about river processes. And it suggests that a better solution is to work with the natural tendencies of the river: retreat from the floodplain by preventing future development (and sometimes even removing existing structures); accommodate the effects of floodwaters with building practices; and protect assets with nonstructural measures if possible, and with large structural projects only if absolutely necessary.

Floodplain Management

Floodplain Management PDF Author: Bob Freitag
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610911326
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Get Book Here

Book Description
A flooding river is very hard to stop. Many residents of the United States have discovered this the hard way. Right now, over five million Americans hold flood insurance policies from the National Flood Insurance Program, which estimates that flooding causes at least six billion dollars in damages every year. Like rivers after a rainstorm, the financial costs are rising along with the toll on residents. And the worst is probably yet to come. Most scientists believe that global climate change will result in increases in flooding. The authors of this book present a straightforward argument: the time to stop a flooding rivers is before is before it floods. Floodplain Management outlines a new paradigm for flood management, one that emphasizes cost-effective, long-term success by integrating physical, chemical, and biological systems with our societal capabilities. It describes our present flood management practices, which are often based on dam or levee projects that do not incorporate the latest understandings about river processes. And it suggests that a better solution is to work with the natural tendencies of the river: retreat from the floodplain by preventing future development (and sometimes even removing existing structures); accommodate the effects of floodwaters with building practices; and protect assets with nonstructural measures if possible, and with large structural projects only if absolutely necessary.

Mapping the Zone

Mapping the Zone PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309130573
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps portray the height and extent to which flooding is expected to occur, and they form the basis for setting flood insurance premiums and regulating development in the floodplain. As such, they are an important tool for individuals, businesses, communities, and government agencies to understand and deal with flood hazard and flood risk. Improving map accuracy is therefore not an academic question-better maps help everyone. Making and maintaining an accurate flood map is neither simple nor inexpensive. Even after an investment of more than $1 billion to take flood maps into the digital world, only 21 percent of the population has maps that meet or exceed national flood hazard data quality thresholds. Even when floodplains are mapped with high accuracy, land development and natural changes to the landscape or hydrologic systems create the need for continuous map maintenance and updates. Mapping the Zone examines the factors that affect flood map accuracy, assesses the benefits and costs of more accurate flood maps, and recommends ways to improve flood mapping, communication, and management of flood-related data.

Floodplain Management Study

Floodplain Management Study PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Floodplain management
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description


The Central Amazon Floodplain

The Central Amazon Floodplain PDF Author: Wolfgang J. Junk
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662034166
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 531

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Book Description
Floodplains are ecosystems which are driven by periodic inundation and oscillation between terrestrial and aquatic phases. An understanding of such pulsing systems is only possible by studying both phases and linking the results into an integrated overview. This book presents the results of a 15-year study of the structure and function of one of the largest tropical floodplains, the Amazon River floodplain. It covers qualitative aspects, e.g., adaptations of aquatic and terrestrial organisms to the flood pulse as well as quantitative aspects, e.g., studies of biomass, primary production, decomposition, and nutrient cycles. The authors interpret their findings and the most important data from other studies under an integrating scientific concept, the Flood Pulse Concept.

Elevation Data for Floodplain Mapping

Elevation Data for Floodplain Mapping PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309185556
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Floodplain maps serve as the basis for determining whether homes or buildings require flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Approximately $650 billion in insured assets are now covered under the program. FEMA is modernizing floodplain maps to better serve the program. However, concerns have been raised as to the adequacy of the base map information available to support floodplain map modernization. Elevation Data for Floodplain Mapping shows that there is sufficient two-dimensional base map imagery to meet FEMA's flood map modernization goals, but that the three-dimensional base elevation data that are needed to determine whether a building should have flood insurance are not adequate. This book makes recommendations for a new national digital elevation data collection program to redress the inadequacy. Policy makers; property insurance professionals; federal, local, and state governments; and others concerned with natural disaster prevention and preparedness will find this book of interest.

Amazonian Floodplain Forests

Amazonian Floodplain Forests PDF Author: Wolfgang J. Junk
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048187257
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 620

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Book Description
Central Amazonian floodplain forests are an unique and endangered ecosystem. The forests grow in areas that are annually flooded by large rivers during mean periods of up to 8 months and at depths of up to 10 m. Despite this severe stress, these forests consist of over 1,000 species and are by far the most species-rich floodplain forests worldwide. The trees show a broad range of morphological, anatomical, physiological, and phenological adaptations that enable them not only to survive the adverse environmental conditions, but also to produce large amounts of biomass when the nutrient levels in water and soils are sufficiently high. This is the case in the floodplains of white-water rivers, which are used for fisheries, agriculture, and cattle-ranching but which also have a high potential for the production of timber and non-timber products, when adequately managed. Latest research on ecophysiology gives insight how tree species adapt to the oscillating flood-pulse focusing on their photosynthesis, respiration, sap flow, biochemistry, phenology, wood and leave anatomy, root morphology and functioning, fruit chemistry, seed germination, seedling establishment, nitrogen fixation and genetic variability. Based on tree ages, lifetime growth rates and net primary production, new concepts are developed to improve the sustainability of traditional forest managements in the background of an integrated natural resource management. This is the first integrative book on the functioning and ecologically oriented use of floodplain forests in the tropics and sub-tropics.It provides fundamental knowledge for scientist, students, foresters and other professionals on their distribution, evolution and phytogeography. “This book is an excellent testimony to the interdisciplinary collaboration of a group of very dedicated scientists to unravel the functioning of the Amazonian Floodplain forests. They have brought together a highly valuable contribution on the distribution, ecology, primary production, ecophysiology, typology, biodiversity, and human use of these forests offering recommendations for sustainable management and future projects in science and development of these unique wetland ecosystems. It lays a solid scientific foundation for wetland ecologists, foresters, environmentalists, wetland managers, and all those interested in sustainable management in the tropics and subtropics.” Brij Gopal, Executive Vice President International Society for Limnology (SIL).

Science for Floodplain Management Into the 21st Century: Selected studies of natural and human factors related to flood management in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Science for Floodplain Management Into the 21st Century: Selected studies of natural and human factors related to flood management in the Upper Mississippi River Basin PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Floodplain management
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description


Guidelines for Determining Flood Flow Frequency

Guidelines for Determining Flood Flow Frequency PDF Author: Water Resources Council (U.S.). Hydrology Committee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Flood forecasting
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description


Floodplain Development Pressures and Federal Programs: Dean, L.F. Case study analysis and recommendations for the "201" wastewater treatment works program

Floodplain Development Pressures and Federal Programs: Dean, L.F. Case study analysis and recommendations for the Author: United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Federal Activities
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Federal aid to community development
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description


Floodplain Processes

Floodplain Processes PDF Author: Malcolm G. Anderson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 686

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Book Description
River floodplains represent a most important component of the environment. They play a critical role in the routing and storage of floodwaters and frequently represent unique and valuable habitats. Increasingly, such areas are under pressure form human activity in a wide variety of forms. This volume seeks to outline recent major research developments that have taken place in the study of floodplain processes. The chapters represent the results of recent engineering, geomorphological, hydrological, planning and other specialist developments. The book will contribute to research not only within the specialist research disciplines outlined, but also in the more interdisciplinary challenges facing river management.