The Need for More Floodplains

---

 The Mississippi River is the longest river in the world and encompasses the third-largest watershed, draining 41 percent of the continental United States including an area of 1,245,000 square miles (3,224,550 km2). Since levee construction began in New Orleans in the early 1700s, there are now nearly 29,000 miles of levees in the United States, including ARCE and non-ARCE levees.   The average levee is 56 years old.

Our country is getting wetter.  Annual precipitation total through April of 2019 was the most on record based on 120 years of NOAA data. FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) paid out some $28 billion in loss payments from 2000-2009 vs. $6.6 billion in the 1990s and $2.6 billion in the 1980s.  Since 2010 $28 billion has been paid out excluding this year's catastrophic flooding totals.  

A note on the critical role of wetlands....  According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, approximately 53% of wetlands in the U.S. have been lost over the past 200 years, some 104 million acres (as of the 1980s).  Twenty-two states have lost more than 50%, seven more than 80%.  Wetlands hold and absorb runoff before it hits waterways and after it spreads out into the floodplain.  Thus, wetlands loss exacerbates flooding upstream and levees prevent wetlands from doing their job downstream.  They are important part of the flooding conversation.