Botetourt County, Virginia Deploys an Impact-Based Flood Warning System
How Sensors, Mapping, and Messaging Improve Flood Readiness In Botetourt County, Virginia, land use is changing fast. Farmland in the north is giving way to suburban development in the south, altering how water moves across the landscape. Fields that once absorbed heavy rain now shed runoff toward neighborhoods and roads built for another era. After […]
Mayor Brad Cavanagh Advances Flood Protection and Economic Stability in Dubuque, Iowa
How a Mississippi River City Balances System Upgrades With Neighborhood Relief Located at the crossroads of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, Dubuque serves as a regional anchor for the tri-state economy. Keeping roads open and neighborhoods safe during heavy rain is essential to that role. Mayor Brad Cavanagh is tackling two realities shared by many historic […]
Mayor Pro Tem Andrea J. Barefield Leads Equitable Flood-Smart Growth in Waco, Texas
How Infrastructure, Equity, and Opportunity Come Together Along the Brazos River The Brazos River is the reason Waco exists and the reason flood planning must be intentional. Historic floods, including the devastating 1913 flood, shaped the city’s layout, leaving older infrastructure and undersized drainage systems in areas where water still wants to go. Mayor Pro […]
Mayor Nancy Miller Champions Coastal Flood Resilience in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
How a Barrier Island City Turned Hurricane Impacts Into Long-Term Flood Solutions When Hurricanes Ian and Nicole hit Volusia County, the impacts in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, were immediate and deeply personal. Of the city’s 198 oceanfront properties, 127 reported damage, including compromised seawalls, undermined pools, and blocked beach access. Because seawalls are not insurable, […]
AFC convenes state legislators in the Netherlands to learn from one country’s approach to flood resilience
In September, the American Flood Coalition, in partnership with CSG Midwest, led a bipartisan delegation of 14 state legislators from 11 states to the Netherlands to study the country’s approach to managing water and protecting communities from flooding. Most of the Netherlands is below sea level, and the Dutch have spent centuries pioneering innovative flood-abatement […]
One year after Helene: Western North Carolina leaders highlight ongoing need for resources
The American Flood Coalition (AFC) recently brought four elected leaders from Western North Carolina to Washington, D.C., to convene with leaders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Capitol Hill to address the ongoing needs of its constituents one year after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. The leaders prioritized two efforts that matter most […]
AI can make disaster response faster, smarter, and fairer — if we let it.
When disaster strikes, communities should be able to count on rapid and effective federal support. But too often, the processes designed to help them recover are delayed by outdated processes and bureaucracy. In the wake of a major flood in South Carolina, one local mayor told us, “It took 4 years and 2 approvals to […]
2024 in review
With historic flooding across the country, including severe storms in the Midwest and devastating hurricanes in the Southeast, 2024 showed the need for flood solutions in every community. Despite these challenges, this year we saw all levels of government build flood resilience: Communities planned flood projects, states invested in resilient infrastructure, and we worked with […]
2023 in review
As the year ends, we look back on achievements in flood resilience during 2023.
Q&A: Building resilient infrastructure starts with flood models
To better understand what goes into flood models, we talked to Liz Perez, president and founder of Collective Water Resources, LLC.