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Climate Change, Resilience and Fairness - How Nonstructural Adaptation Can Protect and Empower Socially Vulnerable Communities on the Gulf Coast
April 2016
Utilizing case studies from extreme flooding events, this paper synthesizes lessons learned, hazard mitigation strategies, and best practices in adaptation. The focus is on nonstructural adaptation strategies such as disaster planning and mitigation, and property buyouts. The best practices for implementing nonstructural adaptation strategies are also discussed with respect to impacts on, and solutions for, vulnerable communities. The paper is grounded in three case studies of flooding events that each caused widespread damage, occurred across a range of demographic and socio-economic conditions, and involved both structural and nonstructural post-disaster adaptation strategies.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Multifamily Flood Insurance Affordability Study
April 2016
In order to help preserve the affordability and stability of New York City’s waterfront neighborhoods, this report seeks to develop meaningful policy recommendations for flood insurance for multifamily and mixed-used buildings. The authors note the importance of this analysis given recent reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and increasing flood risk due to extreme weather events and sea level rise. The study’s findings quantify the number of multifamily and mixed-use buildings in high-risk areas; determine the extent of flood insurance coverage; and seeks to understand potential rising costs and perceptions around future flood risk and attitudes toward investing in mitigation.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Avoiding and Minimizing Risk of Flood Damage to State Assets: A Guide for Delaware State Agencies
March 2016
Prepared by Delaware’s Flood Avoidance Workgroup, this report outlines a set of principles and instructions for ensuring that existing and future flood risks are considered during site selection and project design, as required by Executive Order 41.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Havre de Grace, Maryland: Requirements in All Flood Hazard Areas
February 1, 2016
On February 1, 2016, the city of Havre de Grace, Maryland, adopted additional provisions to mitigate flood risk, including elevating the city’s freeboard requirements, particularly for critical facilities.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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RainReady Midlothian Plan (Chicago suburb flood management plan)
January 2016
The Village of Midlothian - a suburb of Chicago, Illinois - has faced repetitive and severe flooding for decades. Residents are affected both by overbank flooding from nearby creeks and from overland flooding as a result of urban runoff from impervious surfaces. The Center for Neighborhood Technology worked with the Village of Midlothian, the community group Floodlothian Midlothian, and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to create the RainReady Midlothian Plan that was adopted in January 2016.
Resource Category: Planning
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Minot, North Dakota Floodplain Buyouts and Affordable, Resilient Housing “Buy-In” Program
January 2016
In January 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the City of Minot, North Dakota $74.3 million through its National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) to implement several projects to improve the city’s resilience to flooding from the Souris River. In June 2011, Minot experienced a catastrophic flood. The flood, in combination with a “boom-bust” oil economy and lack of affordable housing, motivated the city to envision a more resilient future for its residents, economy, and environment. Among its winning projects, the city will implement a voluntary buyout program for homes most vulnerable to flooding along the Souris River and make resilient, affordable housing investments in higher, upland “Resilient Neighborhoods” located outside of the city’s floodplain to relocate homeowners and renters. Minot’s unique “buyouts for buy-in” model will help to preserve the city’s tax base and community cohesion. The city will also undertake projects to restore the floodplain, preserve open space, create recreational greenways, and provide resilient city hubs that offer economic job development and other services. Local policymakers and planners can consider the Minot example to equitably relocate people and development out of vulnerable flood or coastal areas to safer, higher ground as a part of comprehensive managed retreat strategies.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Tidewater Rising Resiliency Design Challenge
January 2016
Wetlands Watch, Hampton University, and Old Dominion University collaborated to develop flooding resiliency designs for Chesterfield Heights, a neighborhood in Norfolk, VA. The Norfolk region has been named the 10th most at risk from sea level rise of the world’s port cities by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This design proposal emphasizes adaptation solutions that protect the region’s coastal ecosystems, as well as conducting flooding and sea level rise adaptation at the street and parcel level.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Skip Stiles, Mason Andrews, Mujde Erten-Unal
Resource Category: Planning
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Design Guidelines and Funding for Elevating Historic Homes in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Region
This guidance document was prepared by the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) to ensure that recipients of MDA financial assistance programs are able to rebuild structures damaged by Hurricane Katrina in compliance with historic preservation laws and safety considerations. In addition, the guidelines were developed in accordance with a Programmatic Agreement between MDA and the federal government in order to streamline project reviews under the National Historic Preservation Act and expedite federally-funded retrofits.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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New York’s Expanded USGS StreamStats Tool
December 2015
The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a web-based application that operates in conjunction with the existing StreamStats application for New York State to incorporate projected precipitation changes under various 21st century climate change scenarios. This application will allow transportation planners and engineers to explore how climate change may affect high flows, which can assist with the design of over-water infrastructure (such as culverts and bridges) to accommodate these changes.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Minnesota DOT Flood Mitigation Program
The state of Minnesota created a $50 million Minnesota Department of Transportation (“MnDOT”) Flood Mitigation Program (“Program”) to increase the resilience of transportation system after severe spring floods in 2010 caused over $64 million in damages in the state. The Flood Mitigation Program will fund repairs, elevations, and realignments to road and bridges, as well as improvements to drainage structures. Although the program documents do not explicitly cite to climate change, MnDOT lists the Flood Mitigation Program as an adaptation action that the agency is taking to prepare for climate change.
Resource Category: Solutions


