This quote from their webpage summarizes the flood risks we face here in the United States:
"The United States has over 3.5 million miles of shoreline bordering oceans, lakes, and rivers. Coastal counties are home to more than 123 million people, about 39 percent of the nation’s population. These areas, often heavily populated and highly developed, are at risk from weather-related catastrophes such as floods and hurricanes, which can cause significant physical and economic damage and threaten human lives and ecosystems. From 1980 to 2013, flooding caused more than $260 billion in damage in the U.S., making it the costliest and fastest-growing disaster threat in the nation."
Flooding is the most common and most destructive hazard we face on an annual basis. We find flooding on the coasts and in the most arid parts of our nation. Yet, we continue to build unabated in danger zones with no thought to the future, both in cost in dollars and lives disrupted.
It is government's job to protect people. States, counties and cities continue to fail to perform their mission of protecting people. Individuals can't be expected to know everything about the risks that exist in a community. When new homes are permitted, and "built to code" they expect that they are safe places to live. Elected officials, permitting offices and public safety agencies are looking the other way, instead of performing their jobs of protecting people and property. Economic development should not trump protecting the people you are sworn to serve.
