NFPA Journal - Winter 2021 - 16

Dispatches
more federal funding to fully address the threat posed by
floods to critical infrastructure like fire stations, he said
there are opportunities for more immediate changes to take
place at local and state levels. Even educating communities
on their flood risk could go a long way toward preparing for
these disasters, Browning said. " Public awareness, including
among the fire service, is lacking, and that translates to communities
being unprepared to mitigate the threat, " he said.
According to Cindy O'Neal, the Louisiana state coordinator
for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a public
network of insurance companies managed by FEMA, current
building regulations in Louisiana could also be updated to
better address the flood risk. At the moment, O'Neal contended,
these regulations are too soft on allowing developers
to fill in flood-prone areas as opposed to building structures
on stilts to meet flood-zone elevation requirements. " We have
to start requiring everyone to elevate using pilings or piers, "
she said. " Every shovel of dirt that continues to fill the floodplain
simply pushes water onto other neighboring properties. "
NFPA 5000®, Building Construction and Safety Code®,
prohibits using fill for structural support for " buildings and
structures located wholly or partially in flood hazard areas. "
The International Building Code (IBC), however, which the
Louisiana Building Code is modeled after, only partially
prohibits it, saying fill can be used in flood hazard areas
in a way that minimizes " shifting, slumping, and erosion "
during floods.
Getting proactive
Some communities are getting creative when it comes to protecting
critical infrastructure from flooding.
In San Francisco, for instance, a two-story, 15,000-squarefoot
floating fire station is set to open soon on the city's
waterfront. The station, which cost $40 million and was
funded by a local bond for earthquake safety, sits on a steel
barge and is designed to rise and fall with the tides. The fire
department needed a facility that was " resilient to seismic
events, flooding, and higher future tide conditions in [San
Francisco] Bay, " according to an article published in September
in Engineering News-Record California. The recent First
Street Foundation report found that San Francisco County is
expected to see a nearly 6 percent increase in flood risk to its
fire stations, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure over
the next 30 years.
Nationwide, the report found that the next three decades
will see 1.2 million more residential properties become at
risk of being rendered inoperable from flooding; 66,000
more commercial properties; 63,000 more miles of roads;
6,100 more education, government, and other properties the
report categorizes as " social " ; and 2,000 more critical infrastructure
properties.
" An all-hands-on-deck approach is needed at all levels of
government in order to slow the trends identified by this
report, " said Meg Galloway, a senior policy advisor at the
Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM). Building
codes written to address flood risk must be adopted
16 | NFPA JOURNAL * WINTER 2021
on state and local levels, she said, and those codes must be
written to an " even higher standard " for critical infrastructure
like fire stations.
Resources already exist that could help accomplish some
of these goals.
NFPA 5000, for example, includes an entire chapter dedicated
to flood-resistant design and construction, which
requires in part that building systems and equipment are
positioned so that floodwaters can't reach them. The requirements
in the code, as well as the IBC, mirror the minimum
requirements established by the NFIP.
In January, ASFPM, in partnership with the Natural
Resources Defense Council, petitioned FEMA to strengthen
those NFIP requirements. " Forward-looking construction and
land-use standards as well as mapping future conditions provide
communities the opportunity to anticipate and reduce
flood risk, saving lives and protecting property, " the petition
said. FEMA is currently accepting public input on the matter.
Galloway said one major
Water on the Rise
Amount of infrastructure at risk
of becoming inoperable due to
flooding in the US
25%
of critical infrastructure
23%
of roads
20%
of commercial properties
17%
of education, government, and other
social infrastructure
14%
of residential properties
The highest flood risk exists in
Louisiana
Florida
Kentucky
West Virginia
Source: First Street Foundation
Floods are the nation's costliest
natural disasters, and over the
next three decades, experts say,
they will cost even more
$17 billion
Average annual cost
of flood damage in the US
from 2010 to 2018
$32 billion
Estimated annual flood damage in
the US by 2051
Sources: Reuters, FEMA, First Street Foundation
step forward could come by
way of the sweeping $1 trillion
infrastructure bill that
the US Senate approved in
August. It calls for investments
in transportation
infrastructure that would
make it more resistant
to flooding-projects like
raising roads, adding floodgates
to tunnel entrances,
and building better drainage
systems for railways.
It would also infuse $3.5
billion over the next five
years into FEMA's Flood
Mitigation Assistance Program,
fund infrastructure
resilience research, and
support programs that
champion restoring wetlands
and other natural
ways to absorb floodwaters.
" It's about resilience, "
said President Joe Biden,
championing the bill as
he spoke in a battered
LaPlace, Louisiana, following
Hurricane Ida.
The bill will " make our
roads and highways safer
[and] make us more
resilient to the kinds of
devastating impacts from
extreme weather we're
seeing in so many parts of
the country. "
NFPA Journal - Winter 2021

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