Frimpong Eugene, Reilly Allison C, Niemeier Deb
Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, University of Georgia, Brunswick, Georgia, USA.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Risk Anal. 2023 Jul;43(7):1414-1433. doi: 10.1111/risa.14024. Epub 2022 Sep 13.
With the inexorable march of climate change, increased flooding is inevitable. Understanding the feedback between federal flood mitigation policies and the ways in which local governments build flood resilience is a significant gap in the literature. In particular, the effect that federal flood mitigation grants have on the intensity of local flood mitigation is nonexistent. This work measures flood risk mitigation by using the level of participation in FEMA's Community Rating System (CRS). Communities that participate in the CRS and undertake mitigation are awarded points; more points imply a higher level of participation. Since its inception in 1990, CRS communities have received considerably more federal pre-disaster flood mitigation grants compared to non-CRS communities. This study assesses the effect of federal pre-disaster flood mitigation grants on the level of participation in the CRS program. We use data on Hazard Mitigation Assistance programs and CRS participation data between 2010 and 2015. We link these data to flood risk and socioeconomic information. Our results indicate (i) federal pre-disaster flood mitigation grants do not appear to significantly influence the level of CRS participation, (ii) the effect of flood risk and socioeconomic factors on the level of CRS participation are mixed, and (iii) the current level of CRS participation is influenced by the previous level of CRS participation, which is not tied to federal pre-disaster flood mitigation grant. These findings add to the growing discussions on the drivers and barriers of local flood risk mitigation.
随着气候变化的无情推进，洪水泛滥加剧不可避免。了解联邦防洪政策与地方政府增强洪水抵御能力方式之间的反馈，是现有文献中的一个重大空白。特别是，联邦防洪拨款对地方防洪力度的影响并不存在。这项研究通过衡量参与联邦应急管理局（FEMA）社区评级系统（CRS）的程度来评估洪水风险缓解情况。参与CRS并采取缓解措施的社区会获得分数；分数越高意味着参与程度越高。自1990年设立以来，与非CRS社区相比，CRS社区获得的联邦灾前防洪拨款要多得多。本研究评估联邦灾前防洪拨款对参与CRS计划程度的影响。我们使用了2010年至2015年期间减灾援助计划的数据和CRS参与数据。我们将这些数据与洪水风险和社会经济信息相联系。我们的结果表明：（i）联邦灾前防洪拨款似乎并未显著影响CRS的参与程度；（ii）洪水风险和社会经济因素对CRS参与程度的影响喜忧参半；（iii）当前CRS的参与程度受到先前CRS参与程度的影响，而这与联邦灾前防洪拨款并无关联。这些发现为关于地方洪水风险缓解的驱动因素和障碍的讨论增添了内容。
