Digging Deeper

Floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. Some typical effects of floods are physical damage, casualties due to drowning or disease, contamination of water supplies and shortage of crops and food supplies. It is often difficult or impossible to obtain insurance policies which cover destruction of property due to flooding, since floods are a relatively predictable risk.

In recent months, flooding has been at the forefront of the Pittsburgh local news - mainly because it continually affects the same areas – Millvale, Turtle Creek and Carnegie to name a few. The residents of these areas have begun to speak up about the destruction they’ve had to endure.

An article that ran in the August 30, 2007 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relayed the story of Ralph Beatty, a Wilkins homeowner and landlord. Three feet of water poured into Beatty’s property every time it rained during the storms of August. “This is costing me $1,500 a month, and nobody has come out here to try and solve this flooding issue. No one seems to be able to take responsibility for this," he said. Stories like this one are clearly a red flag that risk communication needs to be improved.

In the same Post-Gazette article, a township code enforcement officer commented, “We can't do anything about it because the Department of Environmental Protection has jurisdiction over streams, placement of bridges and culverts." A DEP spokeswoman said the department is "very aware of the problem. We have been in court with this property owner over this issue since 1997." These comments clearly demonstrate the huge role that demographics and geography play in risk communication. The issues that people in these areas face have been around for a long time.

These comments sparked my interest in discovering what the government has done for the city residents in reaction to flood activity. In 1935, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill for nine flood control reservoirs to be built above Pittsburgh. However, while the Senate debated this bill, the worst flood in Pittsburgh history occurred. Since then, the affected populations have pressed the government to use its financial and political assets to actively prevent flood emergencies.

In recent years, the government has developed http://www.floodsmart.gov/, a resource intended to help the public prepare for, endure and recover from floods. It employs statistics, images, videos and interactive tools to educate and raise awareness. My concern with this method of risk communication is that it is not all-encompassing. Risk communications will only be effective if they are tailored to their target audience. This is our biggest challenge with communicating the risk of flood damage.

I'm intrigued by improving flood risk communication because it is a real problem and a local problem. People need to be better prepared and to fully be aware of these risks. Whether it’s more obtainable flood insurance, flood prevention or flood recovery, all aspects of flood risk communications are in desperate need of improvement.