THE INSIDER
The Association of State Floodplain Managers
2809 Fish Hatchery Rd., Madison, WI 53713 www.floods.org
608-274-0123 Fax: 608-274-0696
Executive Director’s Report
Larry Larson, P.E., CFM
“The federal government is there to protect the community from disasters. Where Florida might have hurricanes, or California earthquakes, we have wildfires and the federal government should be there to protect us.”
- Volunteer fire chief in Hamilton, MT
Quoted in a New York Times article: On Fringe of Forests, Homes and Wildfires Meet. June 26, 2007.
I use the above quote to illustrate two significant parts of the problem with managing natural hazards in the United States today.
First is the concept that the federal government should be there to protect communities and citizens from natural hazards. No! People who choose to live, build, and work in at risk areas must be prepared to accept the costs and consequences of their actions. Communities and states that allow at risk development must also accept responsibility for those actions. There was a time in history when people were unaware of the location of hazard risk areas. Now most of the nation’s floodplains, earthquake, and wildfire zones are well known. Even high wind areas are known, especially coastal hurricane areas. While it is difficult to avoid some of the inland tornado areas, we have building techniques for making buildings safer and can build safe rooms to protect lives. The missing element in too many cases is the acceptance of personal responsibility to learn about hazard risk and adapt your life, family, and business to those risks. One hopeful sign is that insurance companies are realizing their exposure and pricing policies accordingly, while also encouraging hazard mitigation such as building codes and appropriate land use. Here again, politicians need to allow these practices rather than force others of us to subsidize at risk development.
Second is the concept that the federal government owes us disaster relief! Every chance I get when talking to members of Congress, I tell them citizens, communities and states often fail to reduce the costs and suffering from natural disaster disasters because they think the federal government will bail them out if a disaster strikes. This is often why communities continue to allow development of high risk areas (including residual risk areas behind levees), where the community gains the tax dollars from that development, while externalizing the cost of the disaster to the federal taxpayer. It also provides citizens with the belief that even if a flood, earthquake, or wildfire strikes, the federal taxpayers will be there to give them disaster relief. While it is difficult for politicians to deny disaster relief, especially if the disaster is huge, some of them understand that this path cannot continue.
Increasing population and development in hazard areas, combined with potential increases in the frequency and intensity of weather events (floods, droughts, and hurricanes) lead to disasters that will severely stress federal budgets. Projections are that the federal budgets a couple decades from now will only be able to provide for defense and security, with no funding for discretionary programs like social, environmental, or disaster funding. All of these factors mean we must shift the thinking and actions of Americans with respect to risk and personal action.
ASFPM will continue to bring these messages to the discussion, and I urge all of you to weigh in also. Major policy change happens slowly, and only with open dialogue of facts and options.
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YOUR NEW 2007-08 ASFPM BOARD OF DIRECTORS
L-R front row: Chair, Al Goodman, MS; Vice Chair, Greg Main, IN; Secretary, Collis Brown, GA; Treasurer, Kevin Houck, CO; Executive Director, Larry Larson.
L-R center row: Chapter District 4, Brad Anderson, CO; Chapter District 2, Gerald Robinson, IL; Chapter District 5, Ken Leep, CA; Region 3, Jeff Sparrow, VA; Region 10, Debi Heiden, WA; Region 4, Gene Henry, FL; Region 9, Alisa Sauvageot, AZ; Deputy Executive Director, George Riedel;.
L-R back row: Region 2, John Miller, NJ; Region 6, Diane Calhoun, TX; Chapter District 3, Harold Holmes, MS; Region 5, Dave Fowler, WI; Region 7, Paul Woodward, NE; Region 1, Scott Choquette, MA; Chapter District 1, Michael Dopko, NY;
Not pictured: Region 8, vacant pending special election to replace Kevin Houck who was elected Treasurer.
Pictured above is the new 2007 - 2008 ASFPM Board of Directors, taken at the annual conference in Norfolk. This spring we held elections for all of the Officers and the odd numbered Regional and Chapter Directors. Please join us in welcoming the following new members of our Board this year:
The Insider July 2007 17
Region 7 Director: Paul Woodward, CFM
Region 9 Director: Alisa Sauvageot, CFM
Chapter Director, District 1: Michael Dopko, CFM
Chapter Director, District 5: Ken Leep, CFM
The Insider July 2007 17
We also had several people elected into new positions after the spring election, they are:
Al Goodman, Chair (formerly Vice-Chair)
Greg Main, Vice-Chair (formerly Treasurer)
Kevin Houck, Treasurer (formerly Region 8 Director)
We congratulate all of the Board members and look forward to working with all of you in the coming year!
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Floodplain Regulations Committee comments on FEMA Form 81-92 and Form 81-92A (MT-EZ Form)
In the April 20th, 2007 version of the Federal Register (Vol. 72, No. 76) there was a Notice and Request for Comments from Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency on Form 81-92 and Form 81-92A (MT-EZ Form). The ASFPM Floodplain Regulations Committee Co-Chairs responded to this request and submitted comments on behalf of the Committee in June.
You can view a copy of the comments they submitted on our website at:
http://www.floods.org/PDF/ASFPM_MT-EZ_Comments.pdf
For more information on the comments submitted please contact the Co-Chairs of the Floodplain Regulations Committee, George Meyers at , or Mike Powell at .
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Stafford Act - amended
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Assistance Act, PL 100-707, was originally signed into law November 23, 1988. This Act constitutes the stauatory authority for most Federal disaster response activities, especially as they pertain to FEMA and FEMA programs.
This Act was recently amended, and you can find a copy of the most current amended document on the FEMA website at: www.fema.gov/about/stafact.shtm.
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News from Disaster Research
The following information was taken from the Natural Hazards Center Disaster Research Newsletter
Active Hurricane Seasons May be the Norm Not the Exception
The increase in North Atlantic hurricane activity since the mid-1990s has been attributed to both human-induced climate change and natural variability, but observational data of this activity only cover the past few decades. Now, researchers have constructed a record of Atlantic hurricane frequency over the past 270 years using proxy records of vertical wind shear and sea surface temperature (which influence the formation of major hurricanes in the Atlantic region) from corals and a marine sediment core, an article in the June 7 issue of Nature reported. The record constructed during the study indicates that the average frequency of major hurricanes decreased gradually from the 1760s until the early 1990s, reaching anomalously low values during the 1970s and 1980s. The analysis also indicates that the period of enhanced hurricane activity since 1995 is not unusual compared to other periods of high hurricane activity in the record; therefore, this phase appears to represent a recovery to normal hurricane activity, rather than a direct response to increasing sea surface temperature.
To read the full abstract, or to access the entire article in Nature, visit their website at: www.nature.com.
(Nature 447, 698-701 (7 June 2007) | doi:10.1038/nature05895)
FEMA Announces Membership of National Advisory Council
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced the 30-person membership of its newly formed National Advisory Council. According to FEMA, the council advises Administrator David Paulison on "all aspects of preparedness and emergency management in an effort to ensure close coordination with its partners across the country." The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 called for the creation of this council, whose members are appointed by the FEMA administrator and "represent a geographic and significant cross section of officials from emergency management and law enforcement." Members include homeland security directors; adjutants general; emergency response providers from state, local, and tribal governments; and private sector and nongovernmental organization representatives.
The council will focus its attention on the development and revision of the national preparedness goal, the national preparedness system, the National Incident Management System, the National Response Plan, and other related plans and strategies.
The list of members can be found at: www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=37154.
Paulison: FEMA is Ready for Hurricane Season
David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told Congress May 15 that he expects the agency's work force to be at 95 percent by today the start of hurricane season.
FEMA had 30 percent of its staff (about 500 positions) unfilled when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Paulison told Congress that this year there would be no repeat of the inadequate response to Katrina.
For more information on FEMA's streamlined hiring processes and plans for this hurricane season, visit http://www.federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2761544.
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AFMA Fall Conference
AFMA 25th Anniversary Celebration
Nov. 7, 8, 9, 2007 GRAND CANYON SOUTH RIM
This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Arizona Floodplain Management Association. To celebrate this achievement AFMA will be holding a 25th Anniversary Celebration in conjunction with their fall conference this year at the Yavapai Lodge on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Yavapai Lodge
Yavapai Lodge is Grand Canyon National Park Lodges' largest facility and is surrounded by ponderosa pines and pinyon and juniper woodlands, less than a half mile from the rim. The Lodge and dining room are normally closed for the season this time of year, but, will opened exclusively for AFMA and our guests. The lodge is located next to the Market Plaza, which includes a general store, bank, and U.S. Post Office. Yavapai Lodge features a nice dining facility where we will be having our breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Most rooms offer two queen beds with a limited number of rooms with one king bed. All rooms have television, refrigerator and telephone.
The conference sessions will be held in the beautiful Shrine Building next to the NPS Headquarters, approximately 0.2 of a mile walk or quick drive from the lodge. Wednesday evening activities and all meals will all be in the Yavapai dining facility adjacent to our rooms. Hotel check-in and meeting registration will be held in the lobby of the Lodge. Join us Wednesday Evening for registration and activities in the dining room. Rooms will be available before and after the conference at the same rates for those wanting to arrive early or stay the weekend afterwards.
Activities:
We are working on several interesting things to do and tours for spouses or your guests who accompany you. Some ideas include: A morning shuttle ride to Williams and a ride back to the South Rim on the Grand Canyon Railway; guided or self guided walking tours of the historic buildings on the south rim; 2 or 4 hour bus tours; hiking; mule rides, or just leisurely strolling along the rim. The famous El Tovar Lodge right on the rim will be open. People wanting to stay at this famous lodge will have to make their own reservations at their standard rate. Pick up your 2006/7 Guide to Grand Canyon at the Spring Conference registration desk and go to this website and check out all the amenities: http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com
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News from CSO
The following is information from the June 1 and June 29, 2007 issues of The CSO Weekly Report
USEPA and Environment Canada Release Joint Report on State of the Great Lakes
This week the Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Canada released a report, The State of the Great Lakes 2007 Highlights Report, on restoration efforts in the Great Lakes. According to the report data reveals both good and bad news about the countries' largest resource of fresh water. While monitoring has shown declines in levels of toxic chemicals in air, water, flora, fauna, and sediment, those declines have not eliminated the need for fish consumption advisories. Since 1998, both agencies have been monitoring the Great Lakes ecosystems using a set of environmental and human health indicators, such as contamination, human health, biotic communities, invasive species, coastal zones, climate change, and aquatic habitats, among others. According to this report, nearly three-quarters of Great Lakes beaches monitored in both United States and Canada were open more than 95 percent of the time during beach season. At the same time, it showed that pollution remains high enough for fish advisories to continue. Also, the report shows that coastal habitats are degrading due to development, shoreline hardening owing to construction of artificial levees to reduce erosion, and increasing populations of invasive species, such as zebra mussels and spiny water fleas, that threaten the food webs of native fish. The State of the Great Lakes 2007 Highlights Report and other documents about Great Lakes indicators and the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conferences are available at http://www.binational.net and http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/solec/.
Louisiana Legislature Approves Master Plan to Restore Wetlands and Protect Communities from Hurricanes
The Louisiana Legislature has unanimously approved the state's first comprehensive master plan to restore wetlands and protect coastal communities from future hurricane damage. The Legislature approved May 31 Senate Concurrent Resolutions 11 and 12 authorizing the master plan for coastal restoration and hurricane protection and the Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Plan--one day before the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season. The annual plan identifies projects that will be planned or constructed during the next three years and approximate costs of each project. The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority intends to work closely with the Army Corps of Engineers, which continues to develop its own plan for restoration of Louisiana's wetlands. Completion of the overall plan is projected to take about 30 years and cost an estimated $50 billion, according to the governor's office. The plan suggests constructing a new levee system, strengthening existing levees, rebuilding wetlands, and finding a proper way to integrate levee systems with coastal restoration projects as part of a multi-faceted approach to provide protection to coastal assets and infrastructure from future hurricane damage. The master plan further addresses the need to build elevated homes and businesses in flood-prone areas, enforce stricter building codes, and implement improved evacuation plans. The coastal restoration and hurricane protection plan has been under study since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Louisiana Coastal Protection Restoration Authority (CPRA) drafted the plan, designed to protect eroding coastal assets and infrastructure. The authority earlier approved both the master plan and the Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Plan. Text of the coastal master plan, Integrated Ecosystem Restoration and Hurricane Protection: Louisiana's Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast, is available online at:http://www.lacpra.org/, under the tab marked ‘Plan’.