The Floodplain Management Program provides advice and technical information to reduce the impact of flooding. Emphasis is placed on floodplain management and coordination of the National Flood Insurance Program. The staff recommends management strategies to reduce flood damage and promote the natural benefit of floodplains. It also serves as the state repository for flood data, coordinates efforts of federal, state, and local agencies involved in flood loss reduction programs, and assists communities in gaining and maintaining eligibility for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.
The Mission of the Floodplain Management Program is to provide leadership to local governments, state agencies, and interested parties toward cooperative management of Ohio's floodplains to ensure the reduction of flood damage and the recognition of the floodplain's natural benefit. This mission is accomplished through technical assistance, public awareness, education, and development / protection standards.
Floods are a fact of life along streams & rivers. Floods occur when streams overflow their banks & spill onto the adjoining land area, called a floodplain. Loss of life & property damage can result when people build in floodplains. No county in Ohio is free from the threat of flooding. The location & severity varies according to weather & ground conditions. Large floods in Ohio, such as those experienced in 1913, 1937, 1959, 1963, 1964, & 1969 have caused billions of dollars worth of property damage & the loss of many lives. Even smaller floods wreak havoc such as the June-1990 flooding along Wegee & Pipe creeks in which 26 people perished or the March-1997 flooding along the Ohio River that resulted in 20 deaths (5 in Ohio) and thousands of dollars of damage.
What is Being Done About Flood Damage?
In an effort to reverse the trend of rising flood damage, local, state, & federal agencies have undertaken a variety of programs that can be grouped into three general categories:
A. Keeping flood waters away from people & buildings by:
1. Constructing dams, levees, & floodwalls
2. Enlarging or altering stream channels
3. Decreasing runoff through land treatment measures
B. Keeping people & buildings away from flood waters by:
1. Floodplain regulations
2. Purchasing floodplains to maintain flood capacity
3. Flood Warning systems & preparedness planning
C. Reducing the cost of flooding to individuals through:
1. Flood Insurance (Fact Sheet 92-13 Facts about Flood Insurance may be viewed as an online web page or as a 43k PDF file.)
2. Flood Disaster Relief
3. Tax Adjustments
The Regulatory Floodplain
The first step in planning a floodplain management program is to determine the size of the flood against which we want to be protected. From this we can determine the area that would be covered by such a flood or, in other words, the size of the floodplain that we wish to regulate. This becomes the regulatory floodplain.
The 100-year flood has become the accepted national standard for regulatory purposes. It is defined as the flood event that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year or, on the average, occurs once in a 100-year period. However, 100-year floods can and do occur more frequently.
Floodplain Regulations
Floodplain regulations are designed to guide floodplain development to lesson the damaging effects of floods. Floodplain regulations may be included in zoning, building codes, & subdivision regulations, or they can be adopted as special purpose regulations. Many Ohio communities adopt special purpose floodplain regulations that combine both building code & subdivision requirements.
For regulatory purposes, the floodplain is divided into two areas based on water velocity: the floodway & the flood fringe. The floodway includes the channel & the portion of the adjacent floodplain required to pass the 100-year flood without increasing flood heights. Typically, this is the most hazardous portion of the floodplain where the fastest flow of water occurs. Due to the high degree of hazard, most floodplain regulations require that proposed floodway developments do not block the free flow of flood water as this could dangerously increase that water's depth & velocity.
The flood fringe is the remaining portion of the floodplain, outside of the floodway, that usually contains slow-moving or standing water. Development in the fringe will not normally interfere as much with the flow of water. Therefore, floodplain regulations for the flood fringe typically allow development to occur but require protection from the flood waters through the elevation of the buildings above the 100-year flood level or floodproofing buildings so that water cannot enter the structure.
ODNR Assistance in Floodplain Management.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Soil and Water Resources, provides technical & planning assistance to local governments & private citizens in order to reduce flood losses in Ohio. The Division's Floodplain Management Program is responsible for:
1. Promoting floodplain management in Ohio
2. Providing technical information to support floodplain regulations
3. Assisting local units of government in establishing floodplain management programs
4. Coordinating the efforts of federal, state, & local agencies involved in flood damage reduction in Ohio
5. Assisting communities to become eligible for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
6. Assisting state & local flood-preparedness efforts
If you have any questions concerning floodplain management, please contact ODNR's Floodplain Management Program staff at (614) 265 - 6750 or by e-mail.