Seek Higher Ground: The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding CrisisPairing in-depth journalism with historical perspectives, this book makes a compelling case for a natural solution to the growing problem of flooding. With Seek Higher Ground, environmental writer and former land-use planner Tim Palmer explores the legacy of flooding in America, taking a fresh look at the emerging climatic, economic, and ecological realities of our rivers and communities. Global warming is forecast to sharply intensify flooding, and this book urges that we reduce future damage in the most effective, efficient, and equitable ways possible. Through historical narrative, rigorous reporting, and decades of vivid personal experience, Palmer details how our society’s approach to flood control has been infamously inadequate and chronically counterproductive. He builds a powerful argument for both the protection of floodplain open space and for programs that help people voluntarily relocate their homes away from high-water hazards. Only by recognizing the indomitable forces of nature—and adapting to them—can we thrive in the challenging climate to come. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Rivers Need Floods and Nature Needs Floodplains | 52 |
The Promise and the Reality | 71 |
Broken Barriers | 92 |
Higher Floods and the Endless Storm | 121 |
Floodplains Are for Floods | 141 |
The Insurance Connection | 166 |
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Seek Higher Ground: The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding Crisis Tim Palmer Limited preview - 2024 |
Common terms and phrases
100-year flood agency American Rivers areas Army Corps Association atmospheric river building built buy-outs California Climate Change coastal communities Congress Conservation Corps of Engineers costs crest dam failures dams and levees decades disaster downstream economic efforts failed federal feet FEMA flood control flood damage flood hazards flood insurance Flood Insurance program Flood Risk flood victims flood zones flood-prone floodplain development Floodplain Managers floodwaters funds future Gilbert White global warming greenways high water homes Hurricane Agnes hydrologic increasing infrastructure Island Press land land-use live maps Mecklenburg County ment miles million Mississippi mitigation move National Flood Insurance National Public Radio natural occurred open space overflow overtopped percent political protection rain real estate relocation reported requires rising riverfront Rob Moore runoff Sacramento Sacramento Bee safety silt storms streams structures taxpayers Teton Dam tion upstream urban wetlands wildlife worse York