Category Archives: Floods

Flood Information from Colorado

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It is early in the day, but so far I have two items that may be of interest regarding the recent CO floods:

#1 The Colorado state Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency has a new Recovery Focused Website set up. Some details:

The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) has launched a recovery focused website for the community and our partners in recovery. The website information is organized using the 14 Recovery Support Functions. The site also contains all media releases related to the flood, briefing notes from the Governor’s weekly call with local officials and presentation materials necessary in the recovery process. The site can be accessed … by clicking on the Flood Recovery tab of www.COEmergency.com. DHSEM will continue to utilize our @COEmergency Twitter account and COEmergency Facebook to share new updates and resources.

#2 See this article and the accompanying video titled: Flood warning system developed after Big Thompson Canyon proves effective. [No longer available.]

In the past 37 years, improvements in flood detection and warnings as well as flood education in the Boulder CO area.

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Boulder, CO – Lessons Were Learned!

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Many years of study and preparedness efforts on the part of both researchers and practitioners were behind the relatively positive outcome from recent flooding in Boulder, CO. It is not often that we can point to teaching points made and lessons actually learned, but here it one example.

With previous tragedy in mind, Boulder, Colo., was ready for flood; Flood damage is heavy in Boulder, Colo., but not what it could have been. Credit goes to changes made since a previous disaster. Some excerpts from this article follow:

Like communities up and down the Front Range, Boulder has long been known to be at high risk for flooding because it sits at the mouth of a canyon and is threaded with creeks. And officials here prepared for the inevitable. The city bought and removed buildings from flood-prone areas, built automatic floodgates around its creek-side municipal building and raised bridges to accommodate surging water and tumbling debris.

When epic rains soaked this city with more than 15 inches in just a few days, the planning seemed to pay off. While there was significant property damage, the city fared better than some neighboring communities ravaged by floodwaters. Not a single bridge in Boulder was destroyed.

The flood marker was put in place two years ago to show the expected water level in a 50-year flood, a 100-year flood and one comparable to the worst in local memory: the Big Thompson flash flood of 1976 that killed 144 people in a canyon to the north. It is also a memorial to Gilbert White, the late University of Colorado professor known as the “father of flood plain management,” who believed that people should move structures out of flood-prone areas instead of relying on dams and levees.

But for many other communities affected by the flood, the news was not good. See this NY Times article titled After flood colorado communities face difficult recovery. As is typically true in the aftermath of a disaster, the poor get hurt the worst because they usually live in the most vulnerable locations and in poorly constructed homes. (NYT Sept. 22.)

Sept. 23- recap of the events and key data from the Boulder Camera article. (19 pp.)

CO Floods- Sept. 18

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The recovery issues are going to be very numerous and difficult in CO, since several mountain towns have been evacuated totally.  With lack of basic, functional infrastructure, and with winter weather fast approaching, recovery is going to be very slow and difficult. The Diva would like to study the towns of Lyons and Estes Park, but funding for that work and the ability to travel there preclude that option for the time being. If there are readers and/or grad students in those locales who would like to help track the progress, please let me know.

Regarding the flooding, one account I read said that some places received rainfall that was twice their usual annual amount.

And this article raises questions about possible connection of the unusual rains with climate change: Colorado floods triggered by convergence of geography and climate, experts say. Some excerpts:

The torrent of water that gushed over and down the Rocky Mountains late last week resulted from a fateful confluence of geography and weather. While the deluge is unprecedented in the historic record, it may offer a window onto the new normal as the planet continues to warm.The exact role of global climate change in the deluge is uncertain, but it certainly played a part, according to climate, weather and policy experts.

As of Tuesday, more than 17 inches of rain had fallen since Sept. 12 in Boulder, Colo. The soaking, described as “biblical” by the National Weather Service, left at least eight people dead with hundreds more still missing and rendered untold millions of dollars in property damage.

Here is another take on the weather and climate details.

Review of Alberta Province’s Role in Recovery of Calgary

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As it often the case, the people affected by a major disaster who are not happy with the response and/or recovery efforts of the public sector want to see an independent review. A major review occurred in Christchurch N.Z  after the 2011 earthquake there — see the NZ page of this blog for the full text of the Assessment report. And in the U.S. there were independent studies after Hurricane Katrina (there were several national level reports) and after  Superstorm Sandy — a major report on recovery strategy is due out in a couple of weeks.

Now, the liberals in Calgary and elsewhere in Canada are calling for an independent study of the role and responsibilities of Alberta province with regard to response and flood policies. See: Liberal Leader Calling for Federal Flood Review.

Another article appeared today re covering the costs of recovery. Seems to me the issue of who pays for what is a matter that should have been  decided long ago. Granted there will be special cases and exceptions for Calgary, but where was the plan for a major disaster and its aftermath? As the old saying goes, The aftermath of a disaster is not the time to exchange business cards.

Living in Harm’s Way – updates

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Another addition to the collection of articles about why people make risky decisions. See:
Putting the Disaster in Natural Disasters: Why Many Choose to Live in Harm’s Way

It is human nature to sometimes resist and resent government regulations. Yet, if the appropriate flood mapping and floodplain management is not done by government, homeowners are left trying to make expensive plans and decisions in a void. At times citizens need public officials to determine risks and they want to be informed about them. Government is sometimes the right actor.

Some dramatic details in the aftermath of the major flood in Calgary, Alberta. Thanks to Pierre Picard for the citations.

  • An article about the realities that 5,000 homeowners in the High Water community face when they live in a risky area – the floodplain in Calgary. See this story in the Calgary Herald. 
  • Here is another article that provides additional details. I cannot even imagine what a home would look like after being underwater for weeks. Small wonder the owners would like a buyout option.

Alberta Canada also is having a problem with a lack of current flood maps.  See this article from the Edmonton Journal.   Thanks to Franklin MacDonald for sending me these articles. The article quotes the late Gilbert White, who said,”Floods are an act of God, but flood losses are largely an act of man.”

As it true in both the U.S. and Canada, homeowners get very frustrated when they cannot determine where to rebuild, owing to old or no flood maps. One more article re this topic in Alberta.

Some people are calling for a provincial flood insurance program. To date, private insurers are having a hard time, with their public image suffering signficant damage.

NOTE:  I have pointed out this problem to the Association of State Floodplain Managers, an organization that I think can be helpful to the Calgary folks as well as officials at the provincial and national level.

Problems Resulting from Out-of-Date Flood Maps

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Thanks to two readers of this blog for pointing me to this article in ProPublica: Using Outdated Data, FEMA Is Wrongly Placing Homeowners in Flood Zones

Lately a number of articles about various aspects of the recovery from Superstorm Sandy are showing up in the traditional media.  I would love to see someone from the NY or NJ area pick up on this topic and perhaps track the recovery from Sandy more closely than I can. Once again, I urge a spin off of this blog by those closer to the action.

Here is one more story on the same topic.  Wrong maps have caused a great deal of hardship.

Update on July 20.  Here is an article that explains why the FEMA maps are not current and why not areas of the U.S. can be mapped with the current appropriation available for that job.

Background Info on Calgary Floods

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(1) What was Known Before the Floods:

Some excerpts from an article titled: Alberta should have heeded flood report: experts

An expert says devastation could have been reduced in southern Alberta if the government had followed its own report on how to lessen the effects of severe flooding.The report was completed by a government task force in 2006 in the wake of a flood the previous year that killed three people and caused $400 million in damage in many of the same communities hit by high water in recent days

.“In my opinion, if this report had been implemented, I sincerely believe that the damage we are seeing right now could have been reduced,” Paul Kovacs, executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, said Monday from Toronto.“I thought this report did a really good job covering the right topics and offering very specific advice on what should be done.”

The report called for extensive mapping of flood risk areas and said 36 communities required flood risk assessments. It also called on the government to stop selling Crown land in flood-prone areas and to prohibit disaster recovery payments for new, inappropriate developments in flood risk zones. Seven years later, it’s not clear how many of the report’s 18 recommendations have been put in place.

The full report, issued in 2006, is here.  Thanks to Chris Jones for providing the link. (No longer available. Updated version, June 2013,  and 2006 Status Update.)

(2) What Now Needs To Be Determined:

Alberta Floods Have Changed The Rockies Forever, Says Scientist

The Diva wants to thank her friends and colleagues in Canada for sending her these news articles.

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More Resources on Floods – from ASFPM

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Forum 4 – 2013 – Gilbert F. White National Flood Policy Forum
Human Adjustments in Coasts – Adaptive Management in Response to Changing Hazards, Risks, and Ecosystems

The 4th triennial assembly of the ASFPM Foundation Gilbert F. White National Flood Policy Forum was held on February 19-20, 2013, at George Mason University’s Arlington VA Campus. This Forum will address “Human Adjustments in Coasts – Adaptive Management in Response to Changing Hazards, Risks, and Ecosystems”. One hundred invited experts – the brightest minds on flood policy, law, governance, engineering practice, biological sciences, transecting disciplines, sectors, landscapes, and US regions – spent a day and a half developing recommendations on approaches the nation can use to adjust human occupancies and management of the coasts. These suggestions should prove instructive to decision makers at all levels of government as we prepare the nation for increased coastal population, diminishing resources, and increased storms and risk. A background paper about the Forum topic is below, along with the Program Agenda.