Before the Deluge: Federal Policy and Flood Resiliency

• Author: Brian Mcwalters
• Position: Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. 2018
• Pages: 467-495

Before the Deluge: Federal Policy and Flood

Resiliency

BRIAN MCWALTERS*

ABSTRACT

Discourse on addressing climate change and its effects often focuses on cli-

mate mitigation—chiefly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, policy-

makers and communities must also devote considerable attention to climate

adaptation—actions that enable communities to better live with or move away

from climate risks. As the events of the past year make clear, this issue is partic-

ularly urgent regarding flooding, which will increasingly threaten coastal and

inland communities. This article evaluates the current federal policy landscape

as it pertains to flood risk. The article examines three policies that, though not

conceived as a response to climate change, may nonetheless be potential tools

for promoting adaptation and resiliency. For each program—the Army Corps

of Engineers’ Flood Risk Management program, the National Flood Insurance

Program, and a tapestry of federal grant programs—the article evaluates its ef-

ficacy and proffers reforms to better equip that program for the challenges

ahead.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

I. America’s Rising Flood Risks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

II. US Army Corps of Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

A. The 7001 Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

B. Effectiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

1. Flood Risk Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

2. Project Delivery and Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

3. Equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

C. Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

1. Budget and Leveraging Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

2. Project Delivery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

3. Comprehensive Studies and Effectiveness Evaluations . . . . . . 479

4. Equity Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

* Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. 2018. Brian McWalters works as a state hazard

mitigation planner and has previously consulted with nonprofits on climate adaptation policy research.

© 2023, Brian McWalters.

467

III. National Flood Insurance Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

A. Flood Insurance and Resiliency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

B. Effectiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

1. Coverage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

2. Floodplain management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

3. Solvency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

4. Equitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

5. Risk Rating 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

C. Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

IV. Federal Grant Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

A. Effectiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

B. Equity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

C. Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

1. Funding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

2. Evaluation and Knowledge Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

3. Accessibility and Socioeconomic Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

INTRODUCTION

The summer and autumn of 2021 was a stark illustration of risks the United

States faces from intense flooding. The headlines denoting the number of lives

lost, from Alabama to New York, were accompanied by photographs of destroyed

residential blocks and submerged infrastructure.

1

Carol Robinson, Alabama flooding: 4 dead in Marshall County and Hoover, Woman Revived in

Birmingham, BIRMINGHAM NEWS, (Oct. 7, 2021, 7:52 AM), https://perma.cc/QCJ4-KET2; Anne

Barnard et al., At least 43 are Dead After Ida Causes Flooding in Four States, N.Y. TIMES, (Sep. 2,

2021), https://perma.cc/BX94-Z7UG; Natalie Allison et al., Tennessee Flooding Sunday Updates:

Death Toll Climbs Past 20 as Decimated Towns Begin Recovery, THE TENNESSEAN (Nashville), (Aug.

22, 2021, 6:01 AM), https://perma.cc/JZC9-SXLB.

These were soon followed by

less visceral but nonetheless dire accounts of the economic and emotional hard-

ship that awaited those who lost their homes and faced uncertainty over insurance

reimbursements or disaster relief.

2

Chelsia Rose Marcius & Benjamin Norman, They Put Everything into Their Homes. Not One Was

Spared in the Flood, N.Y. TIMES, (Sep. 6, 2021), https://perma.cc/A5UT-7QNQ; Ann Carrns, Flood

Damage From Ida? Your Homeowner’s Policy Probably Won’t Cover That, N.Y. TIMES, (Sep. 10,

2021), https://perma.cc/7LHH-DSLR; Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, ’I am Living in a Nightmare

Everyday’: What Homeowners Need to Know as Climate Change Threatens Properties, USA TODAY

(Oct. 8, 2021, 5:02 AM), https://perma.cc/3QHT-NVRH.

Meanwhile, comparatively prosaic journalism

continued to sound the drumbeat on more quotidian but increasingly troublesome

nuisance flooding, its implications for city planning, and the imminent rise in in-

surance premiums for many homeowners.

3

Andrew S. Lewis, The Long, Slow Drowning of the New Jersey Shore, N.Y. TIMES MAG. (Aug. 15,

2021), available at https://perma.cc/2777-Y2DX; Darryl Fears & Lori Rozsa, The Price of Living near

the Shore is Already High. It’s About to go Through the Roof, WASH. POST (Oct. 1, 2021, 6:00 AM),

https://perma.cc/6A4M-H5HF.

These episodes also highlight the

1.

2.

3.

468 THE GEORGETOWN ENVTL. LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:467