Towards integrated flood management along the lower Rhine and Mississippi Rivers and the international legacy of the 2005 New Orleans Hurricanes Katrina–Rita flood disaster

Large lowland rivers and deltas with high concentrations of human activities are vulnerable to different forms of global environmental change and depend upon effective flood management. This study utilizes the approaches and experiences of the lower Mississippi (Louisiana) and lower Rhine Rivers (the Netherlands) to examine the development of integrated flood management (IFM). The development of an ‘integrated’ approach to flood management informed by climate change science and oriented to environmental restoration is strongly present in Europe, and the Netherlands in particular. The epic 2005 New Orleans flood disaster associated with Hurricanes Katrina–Rita represented a paradigm change in flood management with international implications, and in particular the management of embanked floodplains. In contrast to the ‘incremental’ evolutionary model of flood management in the Netherlands, the US and lower Mississippi are characterized by large ‘pendulum’ style changes in flood management, alternating from federal- to local-scale dominance with the environmental change being a lower priority. An important distinction between the lower Rhine and Mississippi is the governmental structure of management, and particularly the role of local-scale entities. US flood management is more top-down than Dutch flood management, with Dutch water boards having more input into water management than US levee boards. The Dutch approach, by comparison, provides elasticity to develop a true ‘integrated’ approach to flood management adaptable to global environmental change and suited for environmental management and restoration. The 2005 New Orleans and Gulf Coast flood disaster initiated a new era of US flood management characterized by the return of a robust federal presence, and stimulated an international exchange of ideas regarding IFM that embraces climate change science and environmental restoration.Global Challenges (FGGA

The Levee Love Affair: A Stormy Relationship

A history of flood control in the United States shows an undying affair with levees. This love affair, however, was put severely to the test by the record flooding in the summer of 1993. About 70 percent of levees in the upper Midwest failed during this time, leading to extensive damage to both farmland and urban areas. Consequently, there were repeated calls to re-assess the nation\u27s floodplain management policies. The report of the Intera-gency Floodplain Management Review Committee is one outcome of this and it forms the basis of this commentary on levees. In many respects, levees are effective flood control measures, being relatively cheap to implement and easy to build. At the same time, levees have negative impacts, affecting the hydrological regime both up and down stream, and often exacerbating flooding in other places. Furthermore, technical weaknesses in design, planning, construction, and maintenance have all contributed to levee failures. While the report recommends changes in floodplain management to address some of these issues, it is difficult to see how these will materialize given the current political, economic, and social climate