ABSTRACT
Water disaster management in the United States (US), and flood disaster management in particular, generally involves both local and national-level policies and institutions. Much can be learned from analyzing the US experience with improving its flood disaster management. Historically, the US has suffered considerable losses, both in terms of lives lost and property damage, to flooding events. For example, the 30-year average for flood-related deaths and flood damage from 1982 to 2011 are 95 fatalities and $8.20 billion, respectively (National Weather Services [NWS], 2013). The devastation caused by flooding is also reflected in Presidential Disaster Declarations, where over 80% of presidentially declared disaster losses are engendered by flooding (Landry & Li, 2012). As a result of persistent increases in flood losses and the unavailability of private flood insurance (Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], 2011), the federal government passed the National Flood Insurance Act (NFIA) in 1968, which established the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). One of the goals of the NFIP is to reduce future flood losses by encouraging communities to adopt and enforce floodplain management ordinances in exchange for federally backed flood insurance (FEMA, 2011). As of December 2011, approximately 5.6 million residential and commercial insurance policies were in force, totaling $1.26 trillion in coverage (FEMA, 2013). Although the NFIP has been successful in providing support to flood victims, some argue that the NFIP subsidized insurance premiums may be encouraging more losses or development in high-risk areas (e.g., Goodwin, 2013; Kousky & Kunreuther, 2013; Thomas & Leichenko, 2011). In
*Corresponding author. Email: noonand@iupui.edu
of Vol. 7, No. 1, 5-22, https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19390459.2014.963373
li Environ ental Af airs, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA
order to reduce flood losses, which are still substantial (FEMA, 2013), in 1990, the FEMA created the Community Ratings System (CRS) through the NFIP. CRS is a voluntary program that encourages communities to engage in additional flood risk management activities by offering communities discounted flood insurance premiums commensurate with the level of flood management measures implemented.
