The Impact of Levees on Flooding: How They Protect Some and Devastate Others

🌊Levees can protect one town from flooding while making the flooding worse for neighboring towns that cannot afford levee construction.

🏠Levees restrict rivers, destroying floodplains, wetlands, and important habitats. They also encourage converting these areas into farmland or residential areas.

🆘Higher levees built by wealthier communities can push floodwaters onto less fortunate neighboring areas, exacerbating the flood risks for those communities.

💡Setback levees, built farther from rivers, allow rivers to expand and create wetlands, reducing flooding on both sides and avoiding the protection of one area at the expense of another.

🔧The regulation system for levee construction and maintenance in the United States is flawed, as it fails to consider changing conditions, increasing flood risks, and the impact on surrounding communities.

Do levees provide effective flood protection?

—Levees can provide protection against flooding, but they also have negative consequences. By confining rivers and increasing flow speed, levees can cause flooding to become worse in certain areas.

Why do some towns have higher levees than others?

—Towns with more financial resources are often able to build higher levees for better protection. This poses a disadvantage for less fortunate neighboring towns that cannot afford such constructions.

What are setback levees?

—Setback levees are built farther from rivers, allowing rivers to expand and create wetlands. They provide flood protection on both sides and avoid the displacement of flooding risks onto neighboring communities.

How does the Army Corps of Engineers regulate levees?

—The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for regulating a fraction of all levees. However, there are concerns about their outdated data and predictions not aligning with the actual impact of levees on flooding.

What are the long-term consequences of building higher levees?

—Research shows that building higher levees can lead to increased flooding in the long term. As climate change progresses and cities continue to prioritize taller levees, the flooding problem is expected to worsen.

00:01Eureka, Missouri, is a city that experiences frequent and catastrophic floods.

01:22Levees are commonly used for flood control, with about 100,000 miles of embankments across the US.

02:36Levees can protect one town while worsening flooding for neighboring towns that cannot afford levee construction.

03:33Higher levees create a disadvantage for communities with lower levees, leading to uneven flood protection.

04:36Setback levees, built farther from rivers, allow rivers to expand and create wetlands, reducing flooding on both sides.

05:50Research shows that levees can increase flooding in surrounding communities, pushing water levels higher.

06:21The current system for regulating levees in the US is flawed and fails to consider the long-term impact on flood management.

06:41Building taller levees exacerbates the flooding problem rather than solving it.