Historic Opportunity for Lasting Change

ByChad Berginnis, CFM

According to one definition, the Thanksgiving holiday is meant to celebrate the harvest and other blessings of the past year. So, in sitting down to write my final column of 2021, I not only reflected on this past year but also on the nearly 30-year career I’ve been blessed with in flood risk management. I think about both the progress and setbacks that have occurred along the way in order to give some context to this latest year’s efforts. The word that I keep coming back to is “historic.”

During ASFPM’s weekly calls with our policy team, for several months there has been a feeling that we’ve never had more things happening from a policy standpoint than we do right now. In fact, it is nothing short of amazing since many of our colleagues, especially those in Washington DC, are still working remotely due to COVID. Yet, it feels like our time has come. Just think about what has been accomplished over the past year:

  • The restoration/reinstatement of the federal flood risk management standard.
  • Funding of nearly $3.5 billion for HMGP as a result of the COVID disaster declaration.
  • Passage of the STORM act (with funding through the infrastructure bill) that will provide yet another approach to do mitigation through state revolving loan programs.
  • Passage of the Digital Coast Act, which will fill data needs and gaps for critical coastal management issues and improve the integration of key data sets.
  • Significant progress on the creation of a national Atlas 14 program with legislation pending in Congress and funding provided through the infrastructure bill recently signed into law.
  • A $3.5 billion surge in additional Flood Mitigation Assistance funding to address repetitive loss properties (a recommendation ASFPM made in Congressional testimony this past spring).
  • Implementation of DRRA Section 1206, which provides financial assistance for post-disaster floodplain management responsibilities, such as substantial damage determinations as well as the standing up of ASFPM’s related Disaster Assistance Response Team initiative.
  • Filing of and favorable response to a petition for rulemaking to update the NFIP minimum standards, which haven’t been changed since the mid-1970s.
  • USACE leadership among federal agencies in making flood inundation maps available through its National Inventory of Dams.
  • Possible passage of the Build Back Better bill that would include NFIP debt forgiveness, the creation of a means-tested flood insurance premium assistance program under the NFIP, and some additional funding for flood mapping.

In any given year, two or three of these accomplishments would have been significant, but to have 10 of them (and that is counting only those that came to mind as I was writing this) in a single year is…well…historic! Or in horse racing terms, I would argue that we have hit the Superfecta! And nearly all of these were, at one time or another, ASFPM policy priorities.

What all of this means to me is that we have a once in a career — maybe even a once in a lifetime —opportunity to make lasting change and finally alter the trajectory of flood losses in the nation for the better. Can you envision a world where the NFIP minimum standards were much more robust, resulted in flood resilient subdivisions, and actually had the impact of steering development away from our most hazardous areas?  Or that the federal government led by example by ensuring its investments had a high degree of flood protection and considered future conditions? Or that we used the FMA funding to eliminate many of the severe and repetitive loss properties that not only resulted in less damage, but also contributed to the financial stability of the NFIP? Or that our flood maps were based on current precipitation/frequency information and we had the ability to forecast future flood risks? Or that we collectively better understand the comprehensive risk of flooding, including risks of dam and levee failures by having information readily available?

Indeed, I would argue that these may be some of the most exciting times that I have ever experienced as a floodplain manager. But, it is going to be incumbent on all of us to make sure that these investments, policies, and programs make a lasting and tangible difference in reducing flood risk and protecting our nation’s valuable floodplain resources.

That is where you will always find a partner in ASFPM. We will continue to fight to realize our vision of an adaptable nation resilient to flooding and prepared for tomorrow’s changing climate. We will continue to engage federal agencies, Congress, and our national, regional, and state partners and reflect the voice of the practitioner who has the job of actually implementing the myriad of flood risk reduction programs. As always, we welcome contributions of your time, talent, and resources. If you are a member of ASFPM, we thank you! If you are not, or haven’t renewed in a while, remember that membership constitutes ASFPM’s single largest source of revenue and ensures we can continue to work on these important programs.

As we kick off the holiday season, I wish to give thanks and gratitude for all of the work that you do and hope that, like me, you are proud of what we have and can accomplish together.

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