Effective community resilience is a direct result of collaboration. The effectiveness of our floodplain management projects is determined by the total awareness, buy-in, and participation of not only the individual agency we work for, but as many lateral and sub-agencies as possible. Identifying cross-agency ways to share data, funding, and technical expertise while coordinating public outreach and advocacy initiatives can dramatically improve a community's chances of rebounding after a disaster.
I anticipate this being a popular topic at the upcoming Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) 2015 Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The world's largest and most comprehensive event of its kind, the ASFPM 2015 Conference is being hosted in one of the premier flood mapping states and features a variety of local floodplain mapping stories that epitomize the power of collaboration.
Marrying Federal Initiatives
One such project involved a Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR) flood map update of the metro Atlanta region, led by Cobb County Floodplain Administrator Bill Higgins. The project's success was highlighted by the marrying of two ongoing federal initiatives that capitalized on joint capabilities.
Our teams were knee-deep in the federally required update when a series of storms flooded the southeastern U.S. during the summer of 2009, washing out a number of Cobb County homes. These properties didn't fit the bill for Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) home buyout—based on the old maps—but did qualify based on new criteria we were developing as part of the flood map update. Bill recognized that GEMA's home buyout program would benefit from the completion of our project, which allowed him to work with both agencies, fast track the mapping, and help save many properties thousands of dollars.
Pairing Past and Future Interests
Too many floodplain mapping projects are performed without consideration for what other agencies have done in the past and what they may do in the future. After the 2009 flood, we made it a best practice to involve agencies who had stake in our geographical area—agencies who either participated in previous projects or planned on being involved in future ones.
One particular project involved revising the hydrologic and hydraulic models along the Chattahoochee River (which reached 500-year flood levels during the 2009 storms) and several high-risk sub-basins, which included a huge population of at-risk property owners. After some outreach, we found a number of state and federal agencies with overlapping projects that could be enhanced through data-sharing, including the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). With what USGS brought to the table, we were able to get a full hydrological technical review that not only ensured data validity but also resulted in a complete engineering analyses buy-in across agency lines with no data appeals and total flood map adoption.
Learn from the Professionals Behind the Projects
Georgia is the perfect place for the ASFPM 2015 Conference. Both projects mentioned above were part of the state's Flood M.A.P. program, which has since become one of the most successful Cooperating Technical Partners (CTP) flood mapping programs in the nation. Georgia modernized the maps of all 159 counties while being one of the first states to deploy a Risk MAP project that included the full suite of flood risk datasets and products.
We're very excited to be involved in this conference again this year. It's an exciting opportunity to learn directly from professionals dedicated to addressing community resilience. If you plan on attending, be sure to stop by our booth, showcase, or one of our many presentations.
See you there!
For more information on the 2015 ASFPM Conference, visit Dewberry's official conference web page. The Dewberry conference showcase is scheduled for June 2 at 1:45 p.m. The Georgia Association of Floodplain Management conference showcase is scheduled for June 4 at 10:30 a.m.