DRAFT Flood Resilience INTRODUCTION vulnerability, and is informed by future Tropical Storm Irene projections. The devastation caused by flooding The focus of this chapter is how flood during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 was a resilience, mitigation, and adaptation are massive disaster for the Rutland Region linked to land use, transportation, and many other areas of Vermont. It also education, economic development, as well was a turning point. Out of the recovery as many other aspects of regional and rebuilding efforts from Irene came a planning. This chapter is designed to be a new goal for the state: flood resilience. tool for town officials, non-profits, As the Vermont Climate Assessment puts developers, and individuals to help make all communities flood resilient and to it, the state has “begun to pursue public Courtesy: CBS6 Albany policy that builds resilience within all 256 guide coordination of these actions towns” (VCA, 2014). Examples of the new throughout the Region. priorities include Act 16, the flood resiliency planning statute (24 VSA §4302), as well as new rules for qualifying CURRENT CONDITIONS for state matches for Emergency Relief and Types of Flooding Assistance Fund. Flooding events are Vermont’s most The challenge for Vermont communities frequent and costly type of natural disaster. is “turning vulnerability to resiliency by There are two types of flooding that impact taking action through adaptation and communities in Vermont: inundation and mitigation,” says the Assessment. flash flooding. Inundation is when water Resilience being the ability of the Region to rises onto low lying land. Flash flooding is US Rt. 4 in Killlington effectively plan for, manage and, in a a sudden, violent flood which often entails Courtesy: 22News WWLP timely manner, recover from flooding. And fluvial erosion (stream bank erosion). The adaptation and mitigation as resiliency combination of flash flooding and fluvial actions that are two sides of the same erosion cause the most flood-related coin. Mitigation reduces exposure and damage in the state. vulnerability, and is informed by past Even before Irene, Vermont had been events. Adaptation reduces exposure and Courtesy: Huffingtonpost.com Left: Rutland area flooding. Courtesy: VTrans Right: Brandon flooding. Courtesy: VTrans Rutland Regional Plan DRAFT experiencing more frequent and severe communities with limited transportation flooding which is projected to continue routes and communication systems, the in the future. state has had a long history in Yet there is a site-specific nature to channelizing rivers and streams to CONNECTING flooding. Risks can vary site-by-site, to the maximize agricultural land uses and to THE PLAN point where parcels located adjacent to facilitate the transportation infrastructure. one another may be impacted differently in Channelization, in combination with Economic Development a flood event. This can be attributed to a widespread floodplain encroachment, has Floodplain function number of factors, such as: steep led to as much as 70% of Vermont’s topography; locations of structures on a streams being disconnected from their protection and fewer disasters site; characteristics of the stream or river, floodplains (VT Hazard Mitigation Plan, help reduce costs/losses, including its course and ability to access its 2013). This is an unsustainable condition, supports public wellbeing, floodplain; soil composition; the presence and when energized by flood events, and is needed for enterprise/ of riparian buffers; and the presence of catastrophic adjustments of the channel business continuity. wetlands nearby and their quality. This site frequently occur, usually with consequent -specific nature of flooding underscores fluvial erosion damage to adjacent or the need for basic systematic steps to nearby human investments. Transportation protect the ability of streams and rivers to infrastructure and agricultural property are access their floodplains and not cause the most frequently endangered types of damage. human investment affected by fluvial erosion hazards. Residential, commercial, utility infrastructure and municipal Causes of Flooding properties are also frequently endangered. Flooding is natural, inevitable and typically beneficial. Flood damage is avoidable. Implications of Climate Change on Flooding Because of Vermont’s mountainous Gilbert White, considered the father of terrain, rural geography and small FAST FACT Flood Resilience means the ability of a municipality to effectively understand, plan for functional river corridors and floodplain functions so as to avoid damage and protect public safety and wellbeing. US Route 4 south of Rutland where the highway is interfering with natural river flow and causing what some landowners believe is an impoundment area. Courtesy: ANR Natural Resources Atlas DRAFT floodplain management in the U.S., wrote, documented in Vermont: “Floods are ‘acts of God’, but flood losses Rising temperatures: average annual are largely acts of man.” (Human temperature has increased by 1.3 ° F Adjustment to Floods, 1945). University of since 1960. Chicago Department of Geography Increasing precipitation: average Research Paper No. 29. Chicago: annual precipitation has increased 5.9 University of Chicago Department of inches since 1960; almost half (48%) Geography.) White’s views guided of this change occurring since 1990. floodplain management for decades. But Extreme events, such as heavy now they may need to be updated since it downpours, have become more could be said that floods also are acts of frequent and/or intense. (Vermont man – because of the effects of Climate Assessment, 2014) greenhouse gas accumulations and climate change, exacerbated in the last 60 The report’s projected trends call for years by auto-centric development and more of the same: even warmer infrastructure. temperatures, more precipitation, and Every county in Vermont announced weather extremes. The Vermont FEMA disaster declarations in response to Assessment echoes a national one flooding events in 2011, the year of released earlier in 2014. The U.S. Climate Tropical Storm Irene as well as earlier Assessment documents heavier downpours spring flooding. The Vermont Climate increasing nationally, especially over the Assessment, the first of its kind in the last three to five decades. The largest nation, released in June 2014 by the increases are in the Midwest and University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Northeast. Ecological Economics, states that “Climate change is no longer a thing of the future; it Flooding in the Rutland Region is affecting Vermont today.” Among the Flooding (particularly flooding-caused climate trends it says are already erosion) is the mostly costly natural hazard Source: US Climate Assessment, 2014 Rutland Regional Plan DRAFT in Rutland County. FOOD FOR Past instances of flooding in the Region THOUGHT have included rain and/or snowmelt events that cause flooding in the major rivers’ floodplains and intense rainstorms Primary Forms of Damage over a small area that cause localized from Flooding and Erosion flash flooding. Both kinds of events can be • Disrupted Transportation worsened by the build-up of ice or debris • Disruption of Government which can contribute to the failure of Services important infrastructure, such as culverts, • Economic Loss • Fast Moving Water bridges, and dams. • Landslide/Mudslide/ In our Region, there is a history of Erosion flooding along many of the major • Health Problems waterways. In almost any countywide • Toxic Release event, the Otter Creek floods low-lying • Loss of Utilities areas, fields, and roadways. Often the • Building/Structure Otter Creek will flood along its entire Collapse length affecting Clarendon, Rutland City, Rutland Town, Pittsford, and Brandon. Secondary Effects of Flooding Other rivers that flood are faster moving Building/Structure Collapse and more likely to cause extensive Communications Failure infrastructure damage. These include Explosion/Fire Poultney River, Castleton River, Cold River, Isolated Areas Neshobe River, Mill River, Tenney and Regional Economic Impact of Power Outage Moon Brooks. On occasion, Lake Flooding Champlain, along the borders of West Water Pollution As noted in the 2013 State Hazard Haven and Benson, has also been known Water Supply Disruption Mitigation Plan, “Flooding is the most to flood. (Rutland Region Mitigation Plan, common recurring hazard event in the 2011 Update). Please refer to each Impact of Flooding on the State of Vermont.” Several major flooding Community municipality’s Local Hazard Mitigation events have affected the state, resulting in People: Plan for floodplain information in the multiple Presidential Disaster Declarations. • Displaced Families Hazards Analysis and Areas of Local From 2003 to 2010, Rutland County • Loss of Sanitation Services Concern maps. • Loss of Water Services experienced $1.4 million in property • Casualties & Deaths Significant flooding events have damages due to flood events (State HMP Property/Environment: occurred in the Rutland Region throughout 2013). The worst flooding event in recent • Air Pollution recorded history, such as the summer years came in August of 2011 from • Water Pollution flood of 1811 when extensive economic Tropical Storm Irene (DR 4022), which • Soil Contamination damages were reported due to the loss of dropped up to 8 inches of rain in some • Bridges/Roads mills, dams, crops and field erosion. areas of Rutland County (State HMP • Fire/Explosion Floods also