Washington, D.C. – With the spring storm season approaching, and extreme weather events increasing in severity and frequency, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) wrote to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Craig Fugate today to ask that the agency “quickly initiate…a nationwide study focusing on the prevalence, causes, and costs of urban flooding.”
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Congress directed FEMA to conduct a study of urban flooding and flood damage under a provision included in the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations Act. The provision was based on legislation Durbin and Quigley introduced in June 2015 to address increased flooding in urban communities and to find solutions for the urban communities impacted.
“Urban flooding has been a reoccurring, prevalent concern in the state of Illinois, where increasingly destructive storms have pummeled through our cities at alarming rates. Chicago alone has seen three “hundred year floods” in the past five years,” the Members wrote. “The current flood insurance program focuses almost entirely on designated floodplains along rivers, not in urban areas. Without the necessary research to determine effective strategies to reduce urban flooding, Illinois communities and taxpayers will continue having to pay for the high price of these disasters.”
In June 2015, Durbin and Quigley introduced the bicameral Urban Flooding Awareness Act, which included a provision – later passed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations Act – requiring FEMA, in coordination with related Federal agencies, to conduct a nationwide study of urban flooding and flood damage. The goal is to analyze existing storm water management programs and craft policies and strategies to encourage the design and use of the best possible flood prevention practices, with a focus on rapid, low-cost approaches. This study will be the first of its kind to comprehensively analyze individual and societal costs associated with urban flooding and evaluate best practices to mitigate urban flooding across the country.
In October 2015, Durbin and Quigley met at the Center for Neighborhood Technology with Chicago residents whose homes or businesses have flooded as a result of urban flooding.
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