BINGHAMTON - Instead of waiting for Mother Nature's next strike, state and local officials gathered Thursday to discuss ways to be ready for future floods.
“We can't stop horrible weather. We can't stop flooding. But we can lessen it. We can make the recovery time shorter. We are here looking for new ideas,” said Michael Balboni, the state's deputy secretary for public safety. “We want to make sure we have all the capabilities we can put in place.”
More than 200 local officials and first-responders attended the state's first flooding summit, which was held in Binghamton, the scene of devastating floods in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
The meeting was held at the Binghamton Regency hotel, which sits on the banks of the Susquehanna River and sustained $1 million in damage during the June 2006 flood.
Over the last four years, nine floods in New York resulted in major federal disaster declarations.
The cost of these events was staggering, with nearly $600 million spent for emergency response and repairs to public infrastructure alone.
The flood in June 2006 swept away homes and cars from Binghamton to the Mohawk Valley and cut a chasm across Interstate 88.
Four people died. Last June, a flash flood strong enough to rip homes from their foundations washed through the Catskills. Witnesses described a rushing wall of water. Four people were swept away.
“So many people look at flooding as a local event, but when you consider it impacts Interstate 88, the New York Thruway, the state canal system ... it's not just a local event, it becomes a state event,” Balboni said.
“We need to have more focus. Flooding occurs, the water recedes, people get assistance, they get back to their lives and they move on. We need to change the dynamics. We just can't keep going from disaster to disaster. We need to come up with a longer-term, comprehensive strategy,” he said.
And different strategies.
For many years, officials believed building higher flood walls and straightening out waterways would reduce flooding problems.
But those approaches only exacerbated flooding for communities downstream, said Chip McElwee, the district manager of the Broome County Soil and Water Conservation District.
“We have to think in terms of land use patterns that don't amplify the effects of flooding,” said Jim Tierney, assistant commissioner for water resources at the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Panelists at the summit said communities need to make greater efforts to preserve open space and wetlands, which act like sponges and can absorb some of the overflow.
They also need to limit further construction in flood plains, even if it means rejecting some developments or imposing moratoriums.
“And where they can, communities may even want to think about moving people out of flood plains who are living there now,” said Tierney. “Essentially, we are putting people at risk.”
Instead of major “silver bullet” flood control projects, communities need to explore “silver BB” projects on local streams that, while small in scope, can have a significant effect on the amount of water that ends up in the state's major rivers, Tierney said.
Updating flood maps - many of which haven't been revised in decades - should be another top priority, said McElwee.
When Binghamton area officials were dealing with the June 2006 flood, they found many maps did not show recent housing developments and building construction, said Sen. Tom Libous of Binghamton.
Among the other areas discussed were watershed management issues such as stream maintenance, stream bank stabilization and permitting and coordination of reservoir operating plans.
There was also discussion of improved river and stream monitoring systems and alert notification.
To start the summit, Balboni announced that the State Emergency Management Office would provide $650,000 in grants to local communities for flood mitigation projects, including raising public awareness.
“People need to understand what it means to live by a stream, to live by a river, to live in a flood plain,” Balboni said.
More than 200 local officials and first-responders attended the state's first flooding summit, which was held in Binghamton, the scene of devastating floods in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
The meeting was held at the Binghamton Regency hotel, which sits on the banks of the Susquehanna River and sustained $1 million in damage during the June 2006 flood.
Over the last four years, nine floods in New York resulted in major federal disaster declarations.
The cost of these events was staggering, with nearly $600 million spent for emergency response and repairs to public infrastructure alone.
The flood in June 2006 swept away homes and cars from Binghamton to the Mohawk Valley and cut a chasm across Interstate 88.
Four people died. Last June, a flash flood strong enough to rip homes from their foundations washed through the Catskills. Witnesses described a rushing wall of water. Four people were swept away.
“So many people look at flooding as a local event, but when you consider it impacts Interstate 88, the New York Thruway, the state canal system ... it's not just a local event, it becomes a state event,” Balboni said.
“We need to have more focus. Flooding occurs, the water recedes, people get assistance, they get back to their lives and they move on. We need to change the dynamics. We just can't keep going from disaster to disaster. We need to come up with a longer-term, comprehensive strategy,” he said.
And different strategies.
For many years, officials believed building higher flood walls and straightening out waterways would reduce flooding problems.
But those approaches only exacerbated flooding for communities downstream, said Chip McElwee, the district manager of the Broome County Soil and Water Conservation District.
“We have to think in terms of land use patterns that don't amplify the effects of flooding,” said Jim Tierney, assistant commissioner for water resources at the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Panelists at the summit said communities need to make greater efforts to preserve open space and wetlands, which act like sponges and can absorb some of the overflow.
They also need to limit further construction in flood plains, even if it means rejecting some developments or imposing moratoriums.
“And where they can, communities may even want to think about moving people out of flood plains who are living there now,” said Tierney. “Essentially, we are putting people at risk.”
Instead of major “silver bullet” flood control projects, communities need to explore “silver BB” projects on local streams that, while small in scope, can have a significant effect on the amount of water that ends up in the state's major rivers, Tierney said.
Updating flood maps - many of which haven't been revised in decades - should be another top priority, said McElwee.
When Binghamton area officials were dealing with the June 2006 flood, they found many maps did not show recent housing developments and building construction, said Sen. Tom Libous of Binghamton.
Among the other areas discussed were watershed management issues such as stream maintenance, stream bank stabilization and permitting and coordination of reservoir operating plans.
There was also discussion of improved river and stream monitoring systems and alert notification.
To start the summit, Balboni announced that the State Emergency Management Office would provide $650,000 in grants to local communities for flood mitigation projects, including raising public awareness.
“People need to understand what it means to live by a stream, to live by a river, to live in a flood plain,” Balboni said.
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