Growing Returns

4 opportunities for Virginia’s General Assembly to build statewide flood resilience

In recent years, flash floods have decimated homes, businesses and communities in southwest Virginia and families are still recovering and rebuilding from the damage. Research shows that investing in flood resilience saves at least $6 for every $1 spent pre-disaster, which is why it’s so important to start planning for climate impacts now. 

While many localities are taking steps to plan for current and future climate impacts, many lower-resourced, small or rural communities need additional support from statewide planning initiatives, funding programs and technical assistance to address their flood risk. Virginia leaders must continue to build flood resilience through four big initiatives. 

Beach

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The impact of storm surge barriers on estuaries and ecosystems

By Philip Orton, Research Associate Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology

Due to the increasing frequency and risk of coastal storms and flood disasters, many governments and decision makers are looking to construct gated storm surge barriers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is recommending these large steel and concrete barriers be built across entrances to 11 U.S. estuaries, enabling closure during storm surges to minimize coastal flooding. However, many scientists are wary of the potential effects these barriers could have on coastal ecosystems, leading many advocates to push for a precautionary approach or their outright rejection.

Published in the scientific journal Earth’s Future and supported in part by funding from  Environmental Defense Fund, colleagues and I recently formulated a new research agenda focused on the intersection between the increased use of storm surge barriers and the resulting estuary impacts. These are three key takeaways from our research:

Photo by: Rens Jacobs
Rijkswaterstaat, Data-ICT-Dienst, Beeldarchief Rijkswaterstaat

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Hurricane season is here again. And finally, leaders are addressing multiple flood risks.

Every year hurricanes present a variety of threats to communities along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. And these risks aren’t just from storm surge.

Harvey and Ida showed us the effect of heavy rainfall, while Hurricane Florence demonstrated how rivers can overflow into homes and businesses. Meanwhile, climate change is impacting sea level rise, which increases sunny day flooding and the trauma caused from storm events.

Flooding doesn’t just impact coastlines, it impacts entire communities both inland and by the water. It hinders parents’ ability to bring their children to school and it limits patients’ access to vital healthcare and medical services. Not to mention, flooding has inequitable impacts on the wealth, health and wellbeing of millions of families.

flooding from hurricane

As we enter into the 2023 hurricane season, we’re reminded of the urgent need to implement natural disaster mitigation strategies that address comprehensive flood and storm risks. Acting before the next storm strikes means protecting both communities and ecosystems, in addition to saving nearly six times the cost spent on disaster recovery.

The good news? Over the past year, leaders have responded to our call to act – a call that was supported by more than a hundred organizations around the country. Here are two major ways their efforts can prepare us for the next hurricane: Read More »

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How new provisions in the Water Resources Development Act are building climate resilience

The Water Resources Development Act of 2022 (WRDA 2022) passed through Congress last December as part of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act. This typically biennial and bipartisan legislation invests in water infrastructure by authorizing projects, studies and programs led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Across the country, the new legislation allows USACE to play a critical role in protecting, enhancing and restoring coastal and riverine areas from climate-impacted flooding and storms. Read More »

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Three ways to take bold action to protect urban coastal wetlands

Wetlands can be powerhouses for climate adaptation and resilience. This World Wetlands Day, we are highlighting one type of wetland that impacts people the most – coastal urban wetlands. Read More »

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A new way of partnering with the Corps leads to innovative wetland mitigation solutions and increased flood resilience.

Today marks the release of the Record of Decision (ROD) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on a restoration project known as the River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp (or Maurepas Diversion) that will serve as mitigation for the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain hurricane risk reduction levee project (WSLP). Read More »

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Biden’s roadmap to nature-based solutions could be the key to future resilience planning.

In early December 2022, the Biden-Harris administration announced the release of a Roadmap to Accelerate Nature-Based Solutions to address climate change, inequity, and nature loss. This roadmap outlines five strategic recommendations for federal agencies designed to put the U.S. on a path to maximizing the use of nature-based solutions.

Coastal Resilience 2021 - Hampton Roads region, VA

Chesterfield Heights – Historic neighborhood with living shoreline construction project comprised of a raised berm (a mound of ground), grass plantings, wetland restoration, oyster reefs, and storm drains.

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Building climate resilience requires a whole-of-government approach. Here’s how Louisiana is making it happen.

As communities in southwest Florida, Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean struggle to recover from the damages of an active hurricane season, efficient, proactive resilience solutions have never been more important.

Louisiana continues to be a world leader in the planning and implementation of coastal resilience. Louisiana will release the fourth iteration of its Coastal Master Plan in early 2023, which provides the most science-based and publicly informed plan in the nation. Since the first plan, $21.4 billion has been invested in flood resilience infrastructure – focused on restoration of coastal ecosystems that provide essential flood risk benefits and grey infrastructure such as levees and seawalls. Other state agencies have also invested billions in rebuilding their infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals and prisons.

flooded hospital

Flooded hospital in Louisiana after a storm.

However, flood resilience is not just about infrastructure but also the ability of government agencies to maintain programs and services their constituents rely upon, from trash collection to food assistance to healthcare. Louisiana is the first to take a step toward a whole-of-government approach to ensure communities have access to the essential services they need to rebuild and thrive in the face of future flood risks.

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Iowa’s Watershed Approach provides a model for tackling big challenges on the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River Basin is massive – it covers 40% of the contiguous U.S. and approximately two thirds of that area is farmland. Flooding and water quality are persistent issues across the basin, and experts predict they will only worsen with climate change and increasing intensity of agricultural production.

Iowa, a state in the basin, recently celebrated five years of its Iowa Watershed Approach (IWA) – a visionary program that has successfully demonstrated a collaborative strategy to reduce flood risk and improve water quality. With a $97 million dollar award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, local and state leaders have installed more than 800 natural infrastructure projects across the state in the past few years. These projects are the result of collaboration among city officials, upstream farmers and state agencies.

I had the opportunity to travel to Iowa to join a bus tour of watershed projects that reduce flooding and improve water quality. Three elements have made the IWA a success and can help scale this approach to other watersheds across the basin: natural infrastructure, watershed approaches and shared science. Read More »

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4 strategies for policymakers to get more natural infrastructure in the ground, fast

Climate change is fueling increased flood risk across our nation’s coastal regions and floodplains. 

States and local communities are turning to natural infrastructure as a key solution to build long-term flood resilience. Natural and nature-based features like wetlands, dunes and reefs offer multiple protective benefits — from absorbing stormwater, to minimizing the shock of storm surge to reducing flood severity. 

However, identifying funding for natural infrastructure projects is not always straightforward.  

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