Gilbert F White, Human adjustment to floods

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Ube lilntversttp of <tbtcago
HUMAN ADJUSTMENT TO FLOODS
A GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH TO THE
FLOOD PROBLEM IN THE
UNITED STATES
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY
OF THE DIVISION OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES
IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR
OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF CEO<:RAPHY
JUNE, 194'.l.
Research Paper No. 29
BY
GILBERT FOWLER WHITE
RMI PlAIN STUDIES Fill
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
1945
ACKNOWLEOOMENTS
The writer is indebted to Ch.arles D. Curran, Reginald C.
Price, Lt. Col. Miles Reber, G. L. Beard, G. A. Hathaway, Anne
Underwood, and William Vickrey for critical reading of the text
and for helpful comments. Merrill Bernard, Carl B. Brown, and
the staff of the C1vision of Disaster Relief of the American Red
Cross have kindly made available certain unpublished materials
and have reviewed portions of the text. He is especially grate
ful to Harlan H. Barrows for an incisive reading of the text and
for discussion and guid.ance which led to undertaking tbis study.
11
'
TABLE OF CONTh!NTS
Page
ACKNOWLEOOMENTS. 11
LIST OF TABLES . vi
LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. v11
Chapter
I. A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE FLOOD PROBLEM. 1
The Flood Problem in the United States . 1
Purpose and Method of Analysis. 3
Three Public Approaches to the Flood Problem 4
Engineering 4
Federal policy. 5
State and local policy 17
Major trends in public policy. 22
Forecasting 24
Public Relief. 25
The Private Approach to the Flood Problem 31
Summary of Prevailing National Policy 32
Outline of a Geographical Approach 34
II. ELEMENTS OF THE FLOOD PROBLEM. 36
Fl oods. 36
Flood Plains. 44
Flood-plain Occupance. 46
Human Adjustment to Floods 46
Factors Affecting Human Adjustment to Floods 48
III. MAJOR FACTORS AFFECTING ADJUSTMENT TO FLOODS. 50
Floods--Liabilit1es and Assets. 51
Sources of Fl ood-loss Data 53
Sociai Impacts of Floods . 56
Damage to physical property 57
Interruption in production. . 57
Loss or impatrment of human life. 62
Reoccupation and rehabilitation . 65
Problems of Loss Valuation 65
Total Flood Losses in the United States 69
Range of Flood Losses . 74
Agricultural losses . 74
Urba.n residential losses 81
Commercial losses. 82
Manufactural losses . 84
Public utility losses 86
Transportatlonal losses. 88
Other losses . . . 91
Psychic Losses and Profits 92
Floods as Agents of Landscape Change 94
Sediment Deposition. 98
ill
TABLE OF COHTENTS - Continued
Chapter Page
Flood Plains--Advantages and Disadvantages. 101 (
Slope and Contour 102
Drainage and Ground Water. 106
Soil. 108
Surface Waters 110
Corridor Facilities. 116
Social Institutions. 118
Institutional inertia 118
Riparian law as an inducement to encroachment 120
Other Factors. 122
Summary of Flood-plain Factors. 125
IV. ADJUST!dENTS TO FLOOOO 128
Land Elevation .
l~O )
Flood Abatement. . . . 132
Established Effects of Land Use upon Floods. 133
Lessons from Agriculture' s Surveys. 136
Flood Protection 140
Levees and F'loodwall s 141
Channel Improvements 142
Diversions. 146
l<e servoi rs. 147
Limit of Justification. 151
Estimation of benefits 152
Estimation of costs . 158
Indirect, intangible, and production benefits 160
Comparison of costs and benefits. 160
l!:roergency 1:easur es. 163
Removal.
16~
Flood Fighting 167
Re-scheduling. 169
hehabili tation 173
Value of Emergency Measures 174
Structural Adjustments 176
Buildings . 177
Public Utilicies. 178
Bridges and Culverts 179
v.ater control. 161
Land Use . 182
Changes in Crops. 184
Urban Relocation. . . . 184
Public Measures to Promote Improved Land Use 188
Subsidized relocation 188
Subsidized abandonment 189
Land acquisi tion 190
Zoning 191
Public Relief 196
Federal Aids . 196
Effects of the Public R~lief Policy 199
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued
Chapter Page
Insurance. 200
Corporation Operating Expenses and Reserves. 200
Inadequacy of Present Insurance. 200
Is National Flood Insurance Practicable?. 202
V. CONCLUSIONS. 205
Essentials of a Sound Approach to the Flood
Problem. 205
Present Public Policy. 210
Needed Geographical Contributions. 212
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 213
v
•
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Funds Appropriated and Expended tor Lower Missis-
sippi River Flood Control, Fiscal Years 1917-1941 7
2. Funds Appropriated and Obligated for General Flood
Control, Fiscal Years 1917-1941 13
3. Federal Appropriations for Relief of Flood
Sufferers, 1874-1942 . 27
4. Estimates ot Ratio of Loss in Production of Goods
and Services to Property Loss Contained in Flood
Control Reports by Corpe of Engineers, 1930-40 60
5. Water-borne outbreaks in United States Due Partly or
Wholly to Floods, 1920-1936. 64
6. Estimated Flood Losses in the United States, 1934-
1941 77
7. Est1mated Losses from Floods in Selected Agricultur-
al Areas . 80
8. Estimated Losses from Floods in Selected Urban Resi-
dential Areas 82
9. Train Accidents Due to Washouts, 1934-1940. 91
10. Sediment Deposition and Removal During the Ohio Val-
ley Flood of 1937 . 100
11. Summary of Major Factors Affecting Adjustment to
Floods. 126
12. Land-improvement Programs Recommended by Department
of Agriculture in Reports under Authority of Flood-
Control Acts. 137
13. Relative Susceptibility of Flood Losses to Reduction
by Emergency Measures Based on Flood Forecasting. 170
14. Relief Activities by American Red Croes 1n Flood
Disasters, 1920-1940 . 198
vi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Page
1. Schematic Hydrographs of a Flood Event . 39
2. Comparison of Methods of Estimating Floods, Tennes-
see River at Chattanooga, Tennessee . 41
3. Hydrographs of Typical Flood Events . 43
4. Estimated Flood Losses in the United States, by
Years and Regional Divisions, July 1, 1902 - Decem-
ber 31, 1941. 70
5. Estimated Flood Losses in the United States, by
Region.al Divisions, July 1, 1902 - December 31, 1941. 72
6. Estimated Flood Losses in the United States, by
Class of Loss and Regional Divisions, January 1,
1934 - December 31, 1941 . 75
7. Relation of Period of Inundation to Cropland Losses,
Trinity Basin 79
8. Major Flood-protection Projects Approved for Con
struction under Emergency Relief Appropriations,
1935-1941. 144
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