Hurricanes, Floods, Wildfires, and Tornado Season Without FEMA

You can't prevent flash floods but you can help mitigate the damage in the future, especially in areas that flood over and over again, or have now become one of the rising areas around the country where flooding of this past decade didn't even exist before. Here's just one of many examples. I'm sure there are plenty more recent ones...

Case Study: The Capitol Region Watershed District in Ramsey County, Minnesota

The Capitol Region Watershed District in Ramsey County, Minnesota, selected different types of green infrastructure to address localized flooding and phosphorus loading. Selected types included:

Rain gardens
Underground infiltration trenches
An underground storage and infiltration system
A regional stormwater pond

As of 2010, the infiltration trenches reduced runoff volumes by 77 percent, the rain gardens reduced runoff volumes by 88 percent, the underground storage and infiltration system reduced runoff volumes by 100 percent, and the pond reduced runoff volumes by 5 percent. Installing green infrastructure—at an estimated cost of $2 million—was more cost-effective than installing an all-gray infrastructure alternative, estimated at $2.5 million for a new 60-inch diameter storm sewer pipe.

https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/mitigate-flooding

The sad part is that thousands of the researched infrastructure projects meant to help tackle this problem had their grants cancelled this year, and all future projects will be denied, even though it can save lives and cost 15 times more to repair vs prevent after the damage is done.

Along with practices that temporarily store large volumes of stormwater (such as ponds or retention practices), green infrastructure can also help prevent stormwater from overwhelming pipe networks. Examples of green infrastructure that enhance infiltration (e.g., permeable pavements) and reduce flooding include rain retention (e.g., rain gardens, bioswales).