Flood Risk, Flood Policy, and Strategic Retreat

Flood Risk

Paxico, Kansas is a rural small town with just over 200 residents. The majority of the town lies in a high flood risk zone, which has experienced limited economic development for over a generation. Local watershed districts and community leaders have consulted an engineering firm to reduce the risk of flooding, but proposed solutions are cost-prohibitive for this small community. SCALes PI Kate Nelson is part of a community science team composed of scientists, architects, and engineers familiar with federal flood risk programs and flood mitigation that have explored tangible steps that Paxico can take to reduce its flood risk. This project has been organized via the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange program.

A storymap documenting much of the project can be found here.

Strategic Retreat

As natural disasters become more frequent and more severe there is significant discussion about whether it makes sense to rebuild developed areas following disasters. The idea of “strategic retreat” or “managed retreat” has seen increasing support as a flood adaptation and mitigation strategy. Across the globe, programs have been put into place to relocate individuals, and sometimes entire communities, that reside in flood-prone areas, reducing future flood damages, deaths, and injuries.

Recognizing the importance of strategic retreat policies and programs in building a sustainable future we examine the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of voluntary buyout programs in the United States. Key findings include:

• Proactive implementation has the potential to greatly increase the economic efficiency of buyout programs (in terms of benefit:cost ratio).
• As buyout program size increases, and structures that experience less severe flooding are included, benefit:cost ratios begin to decline.
• The creation of greenspace associated with buyout programs can result in higher maintenance costs for municipalities, but these costs are offset by the flood-regulating ecosystem services the greenspace provides.
• In the U.S. Black populations have been increasingly less likely to receive FEMA-funded buyouts and are increasingly likely to receive disproportionately less money for their property when they do participate in buyouts.