Emergency managers, politicians and all of us have a duty to communicate the risks of hurricanes and floods, but that communication is lacking as the danger grows, said Gerry Galloway, Glenn L. Martin Institute professor of engineering at the University of Maryland. He spoke to attendees at the 57th Annual International Association of Emergency Managers conference on Nov. 2 in Orlando, Fla.
Galloway, who recently chaired a federal Interagency Levee Policy Review Committee, said climate change, population growth and the breakdown of levees and other flood control infrastructure causes a greater risk of floods. He also said the way we view flooding and protecting citizens has to evolve.
"How can a nation as wealthy as ours with as much knowledge allow something like [Katrina] to happen?" he asked. One of the reasons, he said, is because people are where they shouldn't be. "The farmers and everyone else behind the dams during the 2008 Iowa floods thought they were safe," he said.
Photo: Gerry Galloway, Glenn L. Martin Institute professor of engineering, University of Maryland/Photo courtesy of Gerry Galloway
To change that, policy-makers and others in the know need to communicate the risk to everyone, and terms such as “100-year flood” need to go. He said politicians don't want to tell citizens they're at risk and developers continue to build in flood-prone areas to the great peril of those who move into those communities.
"In New Orleans, we've convinced ourselves that 100-year flood protection is fine," Galloway said. "That's inadequate; 500-year flood protection is inadequate."
Galloway said changing the behavior of the population is a must. During the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people, the populace simply didn't know the risk.
He said the Netherlands has moved away from what it was doing in the past in terms of protecting against floods. Instead of protecting against 10,000-year floods on the coast, the country is now striving to protect against 100,000-year floods. Flood maps in Japan not only show the most flood-prone areas but also reveal evacuation plans and routes. In the United States, we avoid acknowledging or communicating the risk.
"We lead people to believe there's no risk in making decisions regarding land use and zoning," Galloway said. "It's not popular for politicians to tell you that you are not safe."
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