Flood Risk
Syntectic International advises communities how to maintain historical levels of flood protection in the context of global warming.
Among the most consistent findings of climate change research is that the additional heat energy in the atmosphere will result in more intense storms. Because warmer air is capable of holding more moisture, these intensified storms also will have more moisture available to precipitate. These two effects increase the likelihood of floods.
As communities flooded in recent years have experienced, government assistance and insurance coverage are not sufficient to restore communities to their former thriving conditions. Additionally, FEMA design guidelines for communities wishing to prevent future flooding may be insufficient. FEMA appears to be unofficially recommending that flood-damaged drainage systems be upgraded to manage events with return periods four-times as large (e.g. for common culverts, build for the 100-year, rather than the 25-year, storm). However, our analyses indicate that this specification may not maintain historic levels of risk management.
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