FEMA Flood Rule Will Lead to Safer Rebuilding Post-Disaster

FEMA issued a new rule that will increase the nation’s resilience to future flood disasters. The rule is amongst the first adopted by a federal agency that will require federally funded projects to be sited and designed with future climate impacts in mind. 

FEMA’s new rule implements the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard. The flood standard was developed because it is no longer safe or adequate to build for the flood risks of the past. More federal agencies – particularly those who distribute tens of billions of dollars for transportation, energy, and water infrastructure – must catch up and implement the flood standard. Failure to do so will result in taxpayer-funded projects washing away and not making it to the end of their design life.  

From Dubuque, Iowa to Houston, Texas, recent floods have devastated local communities, destroying businesses, washing away homes, and most tragically, claiming lives. And these types of floods are becoming all too common in the United States. The intensity and frequency of major flood events are projected to increase as sea levels rise and the climate changes. Public infrastructure built without accounting for these climate impacts, as required by the flood standard, only sets communities up for repeated failure.  

FEMA’s New Rule Will Better Protect People and Property

FEMA’s rule now requires FEMA to factor in the impact of climate change on future flood risk when it decides where and how to build. The new rule requires all construction projects funded by the FEMA to be higher elevated and better strengthened against climate-related flood impacts, like sea-level rise. FEMA’s new rule also requires any project located in a floodplain or wetland to use natural features and nature-based approaches, where possible, to preserve the beneficial functions of floodplains and wetlands.

Given the billions FEMA spends on rebuilding and mitigating flood-prone infrastructure, the new rule is sorely needed. Since the 1990s, FEMA has spent more than $103.5 billion (adjusted for inflation in 2022 dollars) repairing public infrastructure damaged by floods and flood-related events, like hurricanes and severe storms. Similarly, FEMA has spent nearly $18 billion (adjusted for inflation in 2022 dollars) on reducing long term flood risk to protect people and property from flood-related hazards. 

More Federal Agencies Must Implement the Flood Standard

Flooding already is the costliest disaster in the United States, causing billions of dollars in economic losses every year, and floods disproportionately harm low-income communities and communities of color. While federal spending post-disaster has dramatically increased over the last few decades, spending on proven, pre-disaster planning and mitigation still falls woefully short of what is needed to better protect people and communities. 

When federal funds are used to build, rebuild, or subsidize structures, the government has a responsibility to ensure those investments are safe, sustainable, and resilient for the entire design life. FEMA’s rule will provide long-term benefits for the nation in avoided disaster costs, as well as safer, more prepared communities. 

Unfortunately, the biggest programs FEMA administers are for post-disaster recovery. That means FEMA’s rules will allow them to fix the mistakes that other federal, state, and local agencies already made. It’s important that all federal agencies that fund infrastructure account for sea level rise and increasing flood risk by swiftly implementing the federal flood standard.