As communities in southwestern Connecticut continue to recover from the historic August rainfall that damaged infrastructure, homes and businesses, and killed three people, a new study is calling on the state and others to find additional ways to address ongoing threats from flooding.
The study, released by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, issued more than 30 recommendations, and includes calls for more state money to help local communities pay for projects that would prevent flooding.
Last month's deadly flooding shows that water can be a problem anywhere in the state, said report author Eric Mas, a water resources engineer and vice president at the engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill. His report encourages state lawmakers to adopt resilience funding measures that failed to pass in a climate bill last legislative session.
“You don't have to be on the coast, you don't have to be down by the river, to be impacted in a serious way by this serious, rainfall driven flooding,” Mas said.
The report also urges officials to make changes to flood maps in the state.
Mas warned that many Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps for the state are outdated – and they fail to account for recent development.
“They tend to underestimate flood risk and they create kind of a false sense of flood risk that you are either inside or outside of a flood zone, rather than indicating a risk magnitude for properties,” Mas said.
FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report also suggests allowing cities and towns to create new taxing districts that would help pay to reinforce roads, as well as flood control projects.
State officials have frequently noted that climate change is affecting Connecticut and that the state should prepare for more extreme weather. The state has established a fund to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change. The report recommends improvements to that effort.
The document suggests that the state create a pot of money that would help cities and towns afford the 25% cost share they currently pay to qualify for federal grants for resilience projects. The authors say many towns are unable to come up with enough money to pay 25% of the costs of major projects.
More cities and towns should limit or ban development in floodplains, too, according to the report.
In the meantime, the state has asked the White House for a major disaster declaration for areas affected by last month’s floods, which could unlock about $300 million in federal assistance to help recovery for state and town infrastructure, as well as repairs to hundreds of homes and businesses.
State insurance officials say thousands of homes and businesses have had challenges recovering money from insurance plans that do not typically include flood coverage.
In a letter sent to President Joe Biden requesting the declaration, Gov. Ned Lamont noted:
“One of the most significant factors indicating the need for FEMA assistance is that approximately 90% of the damages occurred in areas that had not been designated as flood zones. Therefore, even those residents with homeowners or business insurance are not likely to have carried flood insurance.”
In the study released by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, Mas also suggests adding more stringent rules to the state building codes regarding how high new structures must be in flood hazard areas.
“Wherever there are impervious surfaces, where there is development, there is potential for that kind of flooding,” Mas said, referring to flooding from sudden, heavy rainfall.
