Community and Regional Planning Program
Date of this Version
Summer 2017
Citation
Moxey, Rashad. (2017).Flood Plan Management: An Evaluation of Nebraska’s Comprehensive Plans for Flooding.
Abstract
This study examined Comprehensive Plans for 53 Nebraska communities to determine how well 60 indicators of flood risk information were incorporated. The indicators were divided into three categories, factual base information, goals and actions and implementation. The majority of plans were created by independent firms as Nebraska does not require state-level oversight. Detailed review of each community plan identified general areas of weakness and opportunities for improvement. The average number of indicators present in the 53 plans was 4.84. None of the three categories was found to be well represented. Indicators per category showed low overall representation; Factual Base 12.0%, Goals 5.7% and Action & Implementation 6.4%. However, in the factual base information category, the delineation of hazardous locations was covered by 74% of plans, but there was found to be a lack of identifications of communities within floodplains. The goals category showed 49% interest in preserving flood risk areas but there was a lack of goals to reduce damages to buildings already in hazardous areas; 28% of plans focused only on areas outside flood risk zones. In the action and implementation category, approximately 55% of plans covered storm water management/watershed treatment strategies. However, educational awareness was present in only about 4% of plans. This study recommends that the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources begin to supervise Comprehensive Plans. This would allow for consistency, implementation of specific requirements, and better education of the planers. This author recommends 14 of the 60 indicators studied be mandated by the state of Nebraska. Further educational awareness of flooding risk and prevention should be implemented at the middle and high-school level.
Comments
This professional project was authored by Rashad Moxey in collaboration with Nebraska's Department of Natural Resources. This professional project was presented to the Faculty of the Community & Regional Planning Program for the degree of Master of Community and Regional Planning at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Advisory Committee: Zhenghong Tang (Chair), Rodrigo Cantarero, Yunwoo Nam.
Client: Nebraska Department of Natural Resources: Mitch Paine, CFM (State NFIP Coordinator).