The High Water Mark - Volume 30, Issue 2

THE HIGH

WATER MARK

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION 2020 - Volume 30, Issue 2

THE HIGH

WATER MARK The Newsletter of the Floodplain Management Association May 2020 - Volume 30, Issue 2 Mission: To promote the common interest in reducing flood losses and to encourage the protection and enhancement of natural floodplain values.

Alex Yescas - Chair HDR Engineering, Inc. 858-712-8283

Darren Suen - Director Central Valley Flood Protection Board 916-574-0609

Jeremy Lancaster - Advisor California Geological Survey 916-445-1825

Mike Nowlan - Vice Chair Wood Rodgers, Inc. 916-326-5277

Millicent Cowley-Crawford - Director West Yost Associates 415-321-3421

Salomon Miranda - Advisor California DWR 818-549-2347

Connie Perkins - Gutkowsky - Secretary Central Valley Flood Protection Board 916-480-5386

Brian Walker - Director City of Roseville 916- 746-1349

Alan Haynes - Advisor NOAA 916-979-3056

Brent Siemer - Treasurer City of Simi Valley, DPW 805-583-6805

Kyle Gallup - Director Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District 951-955-1265

Eric Simmons - Advisor FEMA Region IX 510-627-7029

Abigail Mayrena - Director Clark County RFCD 702-685-0000 John Moynier - Director Michael Baker International 949-855-5759 Vince Geronimo - Director Mead and Hunt 916-993-4606 Brian Brown - Director City of West Sacramento 916-617-4559

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George Booth - Past Chair Sacramento County 916-874-6484 Kelly Soule - Advisor California DWR 916-574-1205 Jose Lara - Advisor California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) 916-845-8883

Carol Tyau-Beam - Advisor Hawaii DLNR 808-587-0267 Erin Warnock - Advisor Nevada DWR 775-684-2890 Jeanne Ruefer - Advisor HWC INC 775-722-7395 Mary Seits - Executive Director Floodplain Management Association 760-936-3676

CONTENT

3

A Note From The Chair

4

Federal/ National News

6

State News

8-9

Call for Articles

12

2020 Watershed University Summit

14-15

Re-envisioning Federal Assistance

16-18

Floods and Pandemics

20-23

FMA NEWS

A NOTE FROM THE CHAIR

By Alex Yescas Hello Fellow Floodplain Managers. I am hoping that this newsletter finds you well and your families are staying healthy. We are going through challenging times and need to make sure we are all safe moving forward.

On that note, all of our luncheons have gone virtual for the immediate future. We have completed some virtual luncheons already, and our emerging professionals committee has also carried out a series of virtual presentations. The emerging professionals committee held presentations on Compassion in Leadership and Helping Communities Plan for Floods with Forerunner.

We are continuing to work towards the planning of our annual conference, to serve our members and provide you with cutting-edge floodplain management strategies.

The association does depend highly on the support of our members, so I encourage you to participate in our conference, submit abstracts, and provide sponsorships to continue to serve our floodplain management family.

SAVE THE DATE Southwest Extreme Precipitation Symposium (SWEPSYM) Integrating Water, Flood, and Stormwater Management Infrastructures with Enhanced Observations and Forecasting Postponed to October, 2020 Due to Pandemic TBA – Tempe, AZ California Extreme Precipitation Symposium (CEPSYM) Connecting Rain-on-Snow Events, Atmospheric Rivers, and Floods June 30, 2020 Virtual Conference Venue Due to Pandemic – VISIT CEPSYM.ORG

Floodplain Management Association Annual Conference September 8-11, 2020 Virtual Conference Venue

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FEDERAL/NATIONAL NEWS For an update of the latest disaster declarations CLICK HERE

For information on Flood Insurance Reform – Rates and Refunds CLICK HERE

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We Make a Difference 7

Prado Dam Outlet Works Design

San Diego Creek Watershed Studies

Stafford Dam E.A.P.

Delivering innovative, cost-effective and sustainable solutions integrating water, people and the environment Watershed & Stream Corridor Planning • Flood Risk Management Flood Studies & Modeling • Ecosystem Restoration Climate Change • Community Planning • Geospatial & LiDAR

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STATE NEWS California 1. Spring Storms Not Enough to Offset Dry Winter: California Enters Summer with Precipitation and Snowpack Below Average The season’s final manual snow survey at Phillips Station was conducted today by the Department of Water Resources (DWR). The survey recorded 1.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 0.5 inches, which is 3 percent of the May average for this location. The SWE measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack, providing a more accurate forecast of spring runoff than snow depth alone.

Hawaii For archived Wai Halana Newsletters CLICK HERE

For the new transformed flood information platform from Hawaii visit their exciting new weekly blog HERE

FULL STORY

2. State Water Project Allocation Increases to 20 Percent The State Water Project (SWP) now expects to deliver 20 percent of requested supplies in 2020 thanks to above-average precipitation in May, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced today. An initial allocation of 10 percent was announced in December and increased to 15 percent in January. Today’s announcement will likely be the final allocation update of 2020.

FULL STORY

3. DWR Wins Outstanding Project and Leader Awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers “I am honored to receive this award and thankful for the team effort on the Oroville Dam Spillways Reconstruction Project,” said Ted Craddock.

“Engineers, contractors, geologist, scientists, dam safety regulators, and other team members worked tirelessly and safely to find solutions to complex situations demonstrating what can be accomplished with successful partnerships among several agencies and industry partners.”

FULL STORY

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Nevada Nevada Floodplain Management Program: The Nevada Division of Water Resources (NDWR) Floodplain Management Program, formerly a part of the Engineering Section with Water Planning and Dam Safety, has been transferred to the newly-established Water Planning and Drought Resiliency Section. The overall planning goals of the NDWR Water Planning and Drought Resiliency Section support the Division’s mission to conserve, protect, manage and enhance the State’s water resources for Nevada's citizens. The new section takes on the responsibilities and duties outlined in NRS Chapter 540, including the review of water conservation plans, floodplain management and includes developing a contemporary Statewide Water Plan and Drought Response Plan. The Water Planning and Drought Resiliency Section is now fully staffed. Bunny Bishop, CFM, previous State Floodplain Manager is now the section chief. Erin Warnock is the new State Floodplain Manager and previous NDWR Dam Safety staff member. Sarah Overton Fichtner is the new Floodplain Mapping Coordinator and previous NDWR Basin Engineer.

All Things Stormwater 9

Nevada Outreach: Outreach has been difficult during the pandemic that is COVID-19. Outreach at all local schools, events and in person have been canceled during this time. We look forward to preparing some virtual trainings and outreach materials.

The Floodplain Management Program has put together a short visual Public Service Announcement that really could not be finalized at a better time. We are currently working toward publicizing the announcement. To adapt to outreach with schools during this time our Public Outreach Manager is working with partners including Sierra Nevada Journeys educators to establish flood awareness materials that can be shared with students. More Story Maps are being created by the Nevada Silver Jackets Team for Carson River, Truckee River, and the Walker River, and should be finalized in the near future. Story Maps are a great public outreach tool for flood awareness in Nevada especially during this time as they can be accessed using a computer, smartphone, or tablet, viewers scroll and click through engaging text, visuals, and maps that make up each Story Map. The other completed projects can be accessed at HERE. The Silver Jackets are also working with Nevada to put on Dam Safety Emergency Action Plan Table Top Exercise Workshops. These workshops were originally going to be done in three communities throughout Nevada in late summer. The plan was to host Emergency Managers and Emergency Responders who are local to the regions where workshops would be held. However, due to the pandemic circumstances this may need to be converted to a virtual training depending on the pandemic outcomes. Regardless, the Silver Jackets and NDWR are excited to be able to provide these workshops and help establish better Dam emergency preparedness in Nevada.

Stormwater Design • Hydrology & Hydraulics Flood Hazard Mitigation • Watershed Planning

Q3 Consulting Q3consulting.net

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WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING

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SERVICES OFFERED        

Floodplain Studies Hydrology/Hydraulics Numerical Modeling Flood Risk Reduction Sediment Transport Bridge Scour Analysis Hydraulic Structure Design Flood Forecast & Warning Systems

     

Site Specific PMP Studies Stream Restoration Water Quality & Contaminant Transport Modeling Groundwater Dam Breach Inundation Mapping & Emergency Action Plans Training and Technical Support

MARTIN J TEAL, PE, PH.D, WRE

(858) 487-9378 mteal@westconsultants.com

DAVID CURTIS, PH.D.

(916) 932-7402 dcurtis@westconsultants.com

www.westconsultants.com FMA NEWS

CALL FOR ARTICLES! The FMA Newsletter welcomes the input of its members and now our extended family of readership to contribute to the conversation! Keep the great articles coming! We need to hear from all of you. There’s always room for more to join the ranks of published authors. Showcase your programs, projects, tools, policies, regulations or ideas to hundreds of floodplain management professionals throughout the U.S.! Articles must be submitted in Word format to Mary.Seits@Floodplain.org and may contain 2-3 small pictures. Preferred length is less than 850 words.

For more details call (760) 936-3676.

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2020 WATERSHED UNIVERSITY SUMMIT California’s Silver Jackets Team didn’t let the statewide shelter-in-place order stand in the way of a successful 2020 Watershed University Summit! ! Less than a week after the shelter-in-place order came out, they had transitioned the in-person event in Los Angeles to a webinar. More than 100 people logged on for each panel during the two-day Summit to learn from experts about flood management, green infrastructure, and coordination and collaboration projects and programs in California.

Watershed University is a free educational and networking opportunity for professionals in floodplain management, water management, emergency management and related fields.

Below are just a few highlights from the recent Summit, and the presentations may be downloaded HERE or HTTPS://CADWR.BOX. COM/V/WU-SUMMIT-2020.

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The Juggling Act Can you relate to this workshop title? This workshop addressed managing multiple watershed hazards – not the challenge of working from home while schooling one’s children.

The panel discussed the US Forest Service’s Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams, noting that once a fire is extinguished, the emergency is not over. After wildfires, BAER teams assess exposure to flood risk in burned watersheds and provide a plan for mitigation measures. They also discussed the California Geological Society’s Watershed Emergency Response Team, which also considers flood risk and is mobilized for fires that may significantly impact State Responsibility Areas. These agencies collaborate with the National Weather Service, which manages the Wildfire Flash Flood and Debris Flow Early Warning System.

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Headwaters to Floodplains: “I’ll take Partnerships for $400!”

Nature-Based Approaches to Floodplain Management

One of the most creative and popular sessions was led by the California Department of Water Resources’ Michael Mierzwa (aka Michael Trebec), who hosted a Jeopardythemed presentation about the Headwaters to Floodplains: Flood Safety Partnership with “contestants” Brent Siemer (City of Simi Valley), José Lara (Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, CalOES) and Gregor Blackburn (Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA). These wise and witty players answered questions related to flood management and flood emergency response, provided insights into their agencies’ role in H2F; and interacted with attendees through the webinar’s online chat option. (Please contact them directly to get autographs.)

Panelists described how ecosystems, water systems, floodplains, and habitats relate to and impact each other. They recommended that this interdependency needs to be incorporated into holistic, watershedbased approaches to flood management.

The Nexus of Urban Infrastructure and Floodplain Management This panel focused on the interrelated issues of dam safety, levee safety, and other aspects of the built environment. They noted that California floodplain managers are seeking better understanding of the way in which the management of infrastructure influences and impacts the management of floodplains and vice versa. CalOES is working with FEMA to secure additional necessary flood mapping information.

One panelist discussed the land development permitting requirements for low impact development (LID) and hydromodification management. They pointed out how green infrastructure projects mimic natural processes like infiltration and evapotranspiration and help filter stormwater, contributing to cleaner waterways.

Another showcased the benefits of the Southport Setback Levee Project that improves public safety through better flood protection, improves operations and maintenance by replacing the old levee structure, creates more natural habitat, and enriches recreational opportunities.

The Suite of Solutions and Opportunities for Success This session provided local, state, and federal insights into funding and other resource challenges that all agencies and organizations are facing.

The panelists provided examples of projects that integrated the concepts of floodplain management into existing urban infrastructures, as well as possible funding sources for such projects. They stressed that without earmarked funding, such projects will not come to fruition in most cases.

If you have any questions about Watershed University or would like to be added to the mailing list for future events, contact the team at Watershed.

University@water.ca.gov.

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RE-ENVISIONING FEDERAL ASSISTANCE Alex Yescas There are several programs to support floodrelated projects. One major campaign that is being implemented by FEMA is the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.

The BRIC program is a new FEMA pre-disaster hazard mitigation program that replaces the existing program and is a result of amendments made to Section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The BRIC program aims to categorically shift the federal focus away from reactive disaster spending and toward research-supported, proactive investment in community resilience.

THERE IS A RIGHT WAY TO DO THINGS. AND THERE IS A NEW WAY TO DO THINGS.

AND SOMETIMES THEY’RE EXACTLY THE

SAME THING.

In 2019, FEMA sought stakeholder feedback to support the development of the BRIC program.

FEMA conducted a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process to solicit feedback on the experience of applicants and subapplicants to learn about challenges stakeholders face in building their capability to implement mitigation programs and projects and gather ideas and recommendations for how BRIC can be responsive to the complex resilience needs at all levels of government. A report was compiled to provide an in-depth review of the comments received through the stakeholder engagement process.

In the survey, some stakeholders implicitly made the connection between planning and building codes and standards by discussing the importance of where structures are built in addition to how they are built, with an emphasis on limiting development in the floodplain and reflecting the impacts of climate change. Among the comments received from stakeholders and reported by FEMA were: “So long as communities develop in the floodplain, we'll continue to have risk.”

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WWW.WOODRODGERS.COM

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Using technology to mitigate natural disasters

“Encourage and promote planning to the 500 year or more flood level standards, and include future flooding scenarios (precipitation, sea level rise, etc.).”

Throughout the engagement efforts, some stakeholders expressed concern about potential repercussions of risk-informed funding decisions.

Stakeholders highlighted how states and communities that are proactive in investing their own funds in risk reduction to lower risk may perceive that they are being penalized by not getting as much funding. Some respondents believed that this is likely to de-incentivize community- or statedriven mitigation actions because they may not want to jeopardize their chances of being funded

by BRIC, creating a vicious cycle in which states and communities become dependent on BRIC for funding mitigation projects. Specific comments regarding floodplains mentioned that coastal areas and overdeveloped floodplains will likely do well in terms of funding and that FEMA could run the risk of rewarding and perpetuating poor planning and development choices.

Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico in 2017, dropping more than 35 inches of rain – washing out roads, bridges and homes. At least 35 dams, including the 90-year old Guajataca Dam near the city of Quebradillas, experienced damage and required immediate evacuation.

The potential for dam breach was high.

DSS-WISE™ software enabled us to develop two-dimensional dam breach mapping.

These comments suggest that stakeholders are interested in incentivizing risk reduction measures as opposed to de-incentivizing them through a reliance on risk-based funding models. Respondents suggested broadening eligible activities under planning to include code audits for strengthened floodplain management ordinances and encouraging communities to tighten regulations on building in the floodplain through zoning and land use planning.

Our teams are using advanced technology to help support and protect our communities.

Scan the code for current career opportunities.

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Continues on next page

atkinsglobal.com FMA NEWS

RE-ENVISIONING FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

Moving forward, FEMA envisions BRIC funding projects that demonstrate innovative approaches to partnerships, such as shared funding mechanisms, and/or project design. For example, an innovative project may bring multiple funding sources or in-kind resources from a range of private and public sector stakeholders or offer multiple benefits to a community in addition to the benefit of risk reduction. The figure below shows the current timeline for the implementation of the BRIC program.

In addition, there has been discussion from Federal Committees on developing an infrastructure stimulus bill. I had the opportunity to participate on projects from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and have heard parallels to the current discussion of a stimulus bill. Similarities include funding shovelready projects and determining the number of jobs that projects may create. There may be an opportunity for your agencies to receive funding on your flood mitigation projects, so stay tuned.

Tory r. Walker engineering r e l i a b l e s o l u T i o n s i n WaT e r r e s o u r c e s

Building Trust through

RELIABLE SOLUTIONS: • Watershed Management • Floodplain Management • Storm Water Management • River Restoration • Flood Facilities Design • Sedimentation and Erosion FMA NEWS

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FLOODS AND PANDEMICS Michael C. Nowlan As I sit at my dining room table (I mean, my office) and “pen” this article, I am struck by the parallels between flooding and biological disasters. Our human responses, before, during, and after, are very similar. Depending upon the severity, the impacts of both can be emotionally and economically painful at personal, local, and national scales. At least floods do not occur at a global scale in our day, but this does not bring comfort.

Pre-disaster Planning and Pre-Mitigation (Before) No human really knows when a disaster will strike, or how severe it will be. Beforehand, some extreme views may even question whether a disaster will strike. Unfortunately, such naysayers are eventually proven wrong. Most of the time, the only people who think deeply and frequently about the impacts of a future disaster are those that work in the political and technical fields associated with them. Human nature allows most of the remaining population to focus on more pressing matters in their lives, and push disasters to the backs of their minds, until they can’t. Unfortunately, short-sightedness is a disease that affects all human endeavors, but we must recognize that we all have limited capacities. During personal tragedies we are mentally consumed by them, and after personal tragedies we want to relish the good things in life as much as we can. Mentally living in continual pre-disaster mode is not tenable for most people.

With offices throughout California, Hawaii and Nevada, AECOM is ready to meet your floodplain, mitigation and resilience needs. aecom.com

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As I am in floodplain management I may have a biased opinion, but perhaps floodplain management has a slight leg up at getting prepared during this “before” level, as there have been many flood disasters to learn from over the past decades, understanding where they strike, and how badly they strike. The last great pandemic that struck the US was 100 years ago.

One might go so far as to call the COVID 19 pandemic, dare I say it, the “100-year Flu”. Of course, there have been significant losses due to annual virus outbreaks, despite our attempts to weather these smaller storms with vaccines and therapeutics. It’s not a competition when it comes to suffering.

Both types of preparedness efforts suffer from a lack of funding and attention before their respective occurrences. In pre-disaster times, no one wants to spend money on something that “may never happen”. We are constantly trying to prioritize our efforts with limited resources and time. There is only so much our society can focus on and attempt to “fix” at one time. I’m sure that the pre-pandemic efforts for developing a vaccine for the Coronavirus will be questioned, but we make decisions based on what we think the risk is, not what the actual risk becomes. One thing is certain. Our planning and preparedness never seems enough.

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FLOODS AND PANDEMICS

Flooding and Disease (During) During a flood disaster there can be chaos as flood waters spread and damage and destroy our homes and businesses, and most upsettingly, harm our loved ones. We can become scattered and isolated, as we hold on for dear life and ride out the waves of damaging forces coming against us. The effects of a pandemic can be more painful. As the virus reaches into our communities it finds its way into the most vulnerable areas of our society, creating devastation in its wake, for some. At least with a flood, you can see the water. In both cases, the weak suffer the most, sometimes as a result of poor planning or decision making. Both types of events force shutdowns and reactions that have deep shortterm losses and long-term impacts.

2019 Floodplain Management Association Annual Conference

Flood Management Solutions From Concept to Completion Coastal and Riverine Flood Management Vulnerability Analysis Habitat Restoration Climate Change Permitting + Compliance Betty Andrews, PE bandrews@esassoc.com 707.795.0900

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We are in the middle of this disaster right now, and the flood waters have not receded yet.

Almost every news story is focused directly or tangentially on the pandemic. This article is no different. We look at what’s happening, gather what limited data we can, and try and tell ourselves we can predict or even control what will happen.

There are already predictions of a second wave coming, as this has happened in other viral outbreaks, until there is a vaccine and/or herd immunity. Our behavior during and after this first wave will have an effect on the magnitude and severity of a secondary wave. Just as in a flood, allowing stagnation can make things worse. It is difficult to keep the flood contained by practicing protective practices like quarantine (detention) and masking (flow barriers) to slow the spread, while allowing the disaster to travel “downstream”.

Keep those metaphorical sand bags around your homes people, and stay vigilant!

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The Aftermath (After) and Recovery It may be hard to imagine at this moment, but there will be an after. We will not get through this unscathed, but we will get through this, and eventually recover. We cannot know the full impacts until months and sometimes years after a disaster. There will be studies and reports and future planning documents that will come out of this disaster for years to come. Everyone will analyze the @#$% out of the situation, what we did before, what we should have done, signs we missed, etc. etc. We will learn a lot from this.

As we will discover, there will be economic impacts that will affect our ability to fight both pandemics and floods in the future. It’s all connected. We’re in this together, so let’s take care of each other. Let’s focus on what we did right, and what we can do better in the future.

Let’s make the best of a bad situation and refocus on what’s important, for as long as our collective memories will allow us.

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THE HIGH

WATER MARK The Newsletter of the Floodplain Management Association