Browsing by Subject "Flooding"
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Item 2012 Northeast and Central Minnesota Flooding(2015) Curtice, BrianThis three-page pdf is a FEMA proclamation issued on July 6 2012 concerning the June 14-21 2012 floods in the Duluth area. All of Minnesota's coastal counties and communities were included in the declaration, along with the Fond du Lac, Mille Lacs and Grand Portage bands of Ojibwe. The declaration includes public assistance and disaster mitigation in the affected areas totaling $44.7 million. Also noted is emergency legislation totaling $167 million passed by a special session of the Minnesota Legislature and signed by Governor Mark Dayton.Item Encroaching Tides: How Sea Level Rise and Tidal Flooding Threaten U.S. East and Gulf Coast Communities over the Next 30 Years(2014) Spanger-Siegfried, Erika; Fitzpatrick, Melanie; Dahl, KristinaThis recent study examined coastal flooding along the Eastern and Gulf coasts of the US, and did not include the Great Lakes. However, the report concludes that extreme weather events and floods are occurring nationwide, and that other coastal communities are also at higher risk. Coastal communities and states, and the nation as a whole, need to prepare for near-term changes in tidal flooding, while working hard to minimize longer-term losses through efforts to both adapt to these changes and limit their extent. The report outlines steps to ensure more resilient coastal communities, which are extracted and reproduced below. “BUILDING COASTAL RESILIENCE IS A LOCAL IMPERATIVE . . . Over the next few decades—the time frame of our analysis—changes set in motion by our past and present heat-trapping emissions will largely drive the pace of sea level rise. The lag of several decades between the release of carbon into the atmosphere and the response of the ocean means that more tidal flooding is virtually guaranteed, and that communities need to act with urgency. Locally, there are many things we can do to help ensure enduring coastal communities, including: • Upgrade the built infrastructure in harm’s way. With help, communities can prioritize and incentivize flood-proofing of homes, neighborhoods, and key infrastructure, such as sewer and stormwater systems. • Avoid putting anything new in harm’s way. Communities can use a range of regulatory and planning tools to curtail new development in coastal locations subject to tidal flooding now and in the future. • Consider the risks and benefits of adaptation measures. Some measures to limit the impact of coastal flooding can provide multiple benefits, while others can alter shoreline dynamics and damage neighboring areas and ecosystems. Decision makers need to ensure that a rush to protect coastal communities builds broad-based resilience, rather than helping some areas while putting others at risk. • Develop a long-term vision. Communities that create a vision for both near-term protection and long-term resilience in the face of sea level rise—and craft plans for building better, safer, and more equitably—will be best positioned to thrive in the years ahead. . . . AND A NATIONAL ONE But local communities can’t go it alone—coastal challenges are too great, the costs are too steep, and too many people are at risk. Instead, we need a coordinated, well-funded national response to our country’s coastal vulnerability involving federal, state, and local collaboration. Federal and state governments can help build local resilience by supporting, incentivizing, regulating, and even mandating action. They can: • Build and maintain a coastal monitoring and data-sharing system equal to the threat. Key federal agencies can sustain and expand efforts to monitor and project sea level rise and flooding, and ensure that local decision makers have access to the data. • Encourage or mandate the use of good scientific information. Agencies can require that communities and other applicants for state and federal funds use the best available data, and demonstrate that new development and redevelopment projects can withstand projected tidal flooding and storm surges. • Support planning. More federal support for state and local planning and collaboration can accelerate efforts to build coastal resilience. • Mobilize funding. Adapting to sea level rise will require major, sustained investment. Federal policy makers need to develop new funding sources to support resilience-building efforts at the state and local level. • Improve risk management. The true costs of living on the coast are not reflected in the price of flood insurance and other risk management tools. But big increases in the cost of insurance are hard for many to bear. Federal incentives to reduce some property owners’ risks and costs can aid the transition to a more solvent flood insurance system and better risk management. • Ensure equitable investments. Federal investments in coastal resilience can prioritize households and communities with the greatest needs. • Reduce heat-trapping emissions. A near-term increase in sea level rise and tidal flooding may be locked in, but changes later this century and beyond are not fixed. To slow the rate of sea level rise—and enable coastal communities to adapt in affordable and manageable ways— we must reduce our global warming emissions.”Item Floods of June 2012 in Northeastern Minnesota(2012) Czuba, Christiana R; Fallon, James D; Kessler, Eric WThis report is a summary description of the 2012 flooding in the Fond du Lac region of Lake Superior from a meteorological and hydrologic perspective. The report notes that the extent and depth of flooding in communities can be used for flood recovery efforts. Key points are reproduced below. Abstract: “During June 19–20, 2012, heavy rainfall, as much as 10 inches locally reported, caused severe flooding across northeastern Minnesota. The floods were exacerbated by wet antecedent conditions from a relatively rainy spring, with May 2012 as one of the wettest Mays on record in Duluth. The June 19–20, 2012, rainfall event set new records in Duluth, including greatest 2-day precipitation with 7.25 inches of rain. The heavy rains fell on three major watersheds: the Mississippi Headwaters; the St. Croix, which drains to the Mississippi River; and Western Lake Superior, which includes the St. Louis River and other tributaries to Lake Superior. Widespread flash and river flooding that resulted from the heavy rainfall caused evacuations of residents, and damages to residences, businesses, and infrastructure. In all, nine counties in northeastern Minnesota were declared Federal disaster areas as a result of the flooding. Peak-of-record streamflows were recorded at 13 U.S. Geological Survey stream gages as a result of the heavy rainfall. Flood-peak gage heights, peak streamflows, and annual exceedance probabilities were tabulated for 35 U.S. Geological Survey stream gages. Flood-peak streamflows in June 2012 had annual exceedance probabilities estimated to be less than 0.002 (0.2 percent; recurrence interval greater than 500 years) for five stream gages, and between 0.002 and 0.01 (1 percent; recurrence interval greater than 100 years) for four stream gages. High-water marks were identified and tabulated for the most severely affected communities of Barnum (Moose Horn River), Carlton (Otter Creek), Duluth Heights neighborhood of Duluth (Miller Creek), Fond du Lac neighborhood of Duluth (St. Louis River), Moose Lake (Moose Horn River and Moosehead Lake), and Thomson (Thomson Reservoir outflow near the St. Louis River). Flood-peak inundation maps and water-surface profiles were produced for these six severely affected communities. The inundation maps were constructed in a geographic information system by combining high-water-mark data with high-resolution digital elevation model data. The flood maps and profiles show the extent and depth of flooding through the communities and can be used for flood response and recovery efforts by local, county, State, and Federal agencies.”Item Neighborhood Voices: A Lincoln Park Climate and Water Impacts Survey(2024-01) Carlson, Jessy R; Sowers, Maia A; Bliss, Morgan; Rodman, Madison G; Sprague, Tiffany AIn 2022, a survey of Lincoln Park neighborhood residents’ perspectives and observations was conducted in order to better understand community perspectives on solutions and challenges related to flooding in the neighborhood. The results of this survey suggest that respondents are concerned about increased flooding in their communities. Survey respondents reported that they feel it is the responsibility of the city and state to manage the problem, but also reported that they want more information about what they can do to mitigate the risk themselves. Additionally, they reported that they value existing green and blue spaces, and want more of them; they also stated that they feel it is important that these spaces serve to manage stormwater in addition to providing social benefits to community members. This document reports the results of that survey.Item The Varying Effects of Climate And Landscape Changes on Increased River Flows In Minnesota Watersheds(2023-05) Ulrich, JasonMinnesota has experienced increases in precipitation and river flows, particularly in its southern, heavily agricultural region, since 1940. However, these areas have also experienced significant increases in the extent of corn/soybean cropping and artificial drainage. Currently, the relative contributions of these factors to increased flows are not well understood. There is also some indication that intense rain events have increased across this region and may coincide with increased flood events. However, most climate studies have not considered the roles of watershed antecedent moisture conditions and runoff storage in their proxies of potential flood impact, nor explored any direct observational evidence of intense rain event links with flooding. Therefore, to better understand the relationships between these complicating factors, this study pursued the following three objectives: (1) Apportion the relative contributions of increases in climate, corn/soybean agriculture, and artificial drainage to increased river flows in 21 agricultural watersheds in southern Minnesota, (2) Analyze trends in intense rainfall, antecedent moisture conditions and predicted runoff at 132 climate stations across Minnesota to estimate potential flooding hotspots and, (3) Apportion the relative contributions of intense rain events of different magnitudes, snowmelt, and antecedent moisture conditions to flooding in the Cottonwood River watershed -- a heavily agricultural watershed that has seen exceptional increases in intense rain events and flooding since 1950.To apportion the relative contributions of increases in climate, corn/soybean agriculture, and artificial drainage to increased river flows, trends in precipitation, crop conversions, and extent of drained depressional area in 21 Minnesota watersheds were compared from 1940-2009. Watersheds with large land-use changes had increases in seasonal and annual water yields of >50% since 1940. On average, changes in precipitation and crop evapotranspiration explained less than one-half of the increase, with the remainder highly correlated with artificial drainage and loss of depressional areas. Trends for intense rain events, antecedent moisture conditions and watershed storage were analyzed in 132 precipitation stations within 65 major watersheds in Minnesota. Resulting runoff was predicted using a simplified rainfall-runoff model. Results show widespread increases in intense rain events across southern Minnesota since 1950, but markedly fewer trends in antecedent moisture conditions and predicted runoff. However, exceptional intense rain events, antecedent moisture conditions, and predicted runoff increases are concentrated in and around specific hotspot watersheds in Minnesota. The study shows the importance of considering watershed hydrology when diagnosing potential impacts of intense rain event increases. Relative contributions of intense rain and antecedent moisture conditions to flooding in the Cottonwood watershed were determined using an empirical, data-driven approach which apportioned the roles of snowmelt, intense rain events and antecedent moisture conditions in each every flow (and flood) event 1950-2021. Results suggest that recent major flooding in the Cottonwood has been driven by intense rain events (≥ 75/mm/day), and to a lesser degree by event antecedent baseflow, which reduces channel storage and increases flood stage. Less severe flooding is driven roughly equally by (less) intense rain events (≥ 25mm/day & <75/mm/day) and both antecedent base- and quickflows.