Rutherford H. Platt

Rebuilding the North Carolina Coast after Hurricane Fran: Did Public Regulations Matter?

The 320-mile oceanfront shoreline of North Carolina, one of the nations premier vacation destinations, is frequently struck by landfalling hurricanes and extratropical winter storms. In 1996, Hurricane Fran, two months after Hurricane Bertha, inflicted an estimated

TOWARD ECOLOGICAL CITIES: Adapting to the 21st Century Metropolis

7 billion in public and private damage, including 40,000 homes destroyed, 115,000 buildings damaged, and 25 lives lost. Post-storm rebuilding of the North Carolina coastal zone is governed by a complex array of federal, state, and local laws, of which the keystone is the state Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA). This act, as augmented by the National Flood Insurance Program and the federal Coastal Barrier Resources Act, seeks to reduce vulnerability to future coastal hazards through postdisaster adjustments in the horizontal and vertical placement of structures, among other measures. This article reviews experience in rebuilding the North Carolina oceanfront after the 1996 hurricanes to discern the influence, if any, of these laws. The research is based on review of postdisaster assessments, interviews with key personnel, news media reports, and direct observation. We found widespread compliance with vertical elevation and building codes but rather uneven application of minimum setbacks under CAMA, especially where vegetation was removed. Oceanfront structures are being built more strongly to resist wave and wind forces but are vulnerable to ongoing erosion, resulting in beach and dune scour, and possible stranding of structures below the mean high water line. Experience with temporary replacement of dunes and the shore road at North Topsail Beach indicates that political pressure may overwhelm the intent of Congress to limit repetitive loss costs for infrastructure, especially in areas designated under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act.

The National Flood Insurance Program: Some Midstream Perspectives

Abstract In the words of former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, “The pace of sprawl across the country remains a disaster-to the environment, to our quality of life, to our communities.” Despite such critics throughout history, sprawl continues to expand its reach and deepen its impact. If the enveloping metropolis is inevitable, how can we help it to blend in with the landscape, working in tandem with people and ecosystems?

Evolution of coastal hazards policies in the United States

Abstract Federal flood control works and disaster relief have not curtailed rising annual flood losses in the United States. The National Flood Insurance Program takes a new approach. Flood insurance at low rates is offered in communities which adopt floodplain regulations prescribed by the Federal Insurance Administration. Thirteen thousand communities are participating in NFIP on a provisional basis. Final implementation awaits completion of federal floodplain maps. Timely regulation of floodplains by local communities is unnecessarily delayed by various legal and hydrologic issues.

Urban Watershed Management: Sustainability, One Stream at a Time

The ocean and Great Lakes coasts of the United States are experiencing widespread economic and environmental damage from coastal flooding and erosion. During this century, public response to such coastal hazards has evolved haphazardly in response to particular disasters. Over time, however, the range of response has broadened as research has helped to refine public understanding of physical coastal processes, and specific disasters have been studied before longer term forms of institutional response have been formulated. Earlier reliance on engineered shoreline protection has been supplemented by beach nourishment, flood insurance, building and land use regulations, coastal zone planning, and other approaches. This article interprets the evolution of such public policy innovations in terms of a model that depicts the interaction of spatially differentiated systems of physical, legal, and cultural phenomena in the coastal context.

Coastal Hazards and National Policy: A Jury-Rig Approach

(2006). Urban Watershed Management: Sustainability, One Stream at a Time. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development: Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 26-42.

The 2020 Water Supply Study For Metropolitan Boston: The Demise of Diversion

Abstract The oceanic and Great Lakes shorelines of the U.S. are hazardous places. Despite substantial loss of life and property annually, population and investment continue to expand in coastal hazard areas. Federal policy toward this situation is fragmented. The coastal zone management program supports state planning procedures but provides no substantive standards. The national flood insurance program supplies minimum standards but lacks an effective implementation process. This article suggests that these programs might fruitfully serve each others needs through closer coordination. With help from recent executive orders concerning flood plains and wetlands, a collaborative national policy and program for the mitigation of coastal hazard losses might thus be achieved.

Regreening the Metropolis: Pathways to More Ecological Cities: Keynote Address

Abstract Boston, like most coastal cities, has long relied on its rural hinterland for water. Historically, external sources of water were developed when needed with little concern for water conservation. Drought in the early 1960s revived plans to divert water to metropolitan Boston from the Connecticut River. Opposition by environmentalists led Governor Dukakis in 1978 to establish a Long Range Water Supply Study for Metropolitan Boston, to be monitored by a state-funded Water Supply Citizens Advisory Committee (WSCAC) representing diverse interests. Under WSCACs prodding, state water policies eventually embraced demand management as reflected in: (1) new water laws; (2) establishment of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA); (3) use of higher fees and water-saving technology by MWRA; and (4) deferral of new diversions. Contrary to earlier predictions, per capita demand in the Boston Metropolitan Area fell 16 percent between 1985 and 1992; aggregate demand is now well within the safe yield...

Automated flash flood warning systems

Abstract: Eighty percent of the American population now lives in metropolitan regions whose geographic extent continues to expand even as many core cities and inner‐tier suburbs lose middle‐class populations, jobs, and tax base. Urban sprawl and the socioeconomic polarizing of metropolitan America have been fostered by public policies including (1) federal subsidies for new infrastructure on the urban fringe; (2) tax policies that favor home ownership over rental properties; (3) local zoning codes; and (4) federal and state neglect of older urban neighborhoods. In the face of diminished access to “nature” outside of metropolitan areas, locally based efforts to protect and restore greenspaces within urban areas seek to make older communities more habitable and more “ecological.” Some pathways to more ecological cities include the following: (1) the notion of rus in urbe (“the country in the city”); (2) the “usable outdoors”; (3) garden cities and eco‐villages; (4) green buildings and green roofs; (5) urban biodiversity; (6) ecological services; and (7) space, nature, and place.

METROPOLITAN FLOOD LOSS REDUCTION THROUGH REGIONAL SPECIAL DISTRICTS

Abstract The hazard of flash flooding, affecting both remote upland stream valleys and urbanizing metropolitan watersheds, poses a need for rapid identification and analysis of sudden changes in stream flow to allow timely public warning. Since 1976, the US National Weather Service (NWS), in cooperation with various regional authorities, has developed a new, low-cost system in response to this need. This system, known as ALERT (Automated Local Evaluation in Real Time) employs stream and rain gauges equipped with self-activating radio transmitters which communicate with a central microcomputer. Using software calibrated to the watershed in question, predictions of downstream flood levels may be rapidly generated. This paper reviews the origins and technology of ALERT systems and reports on the experiences to date of 32 system users. The survey found a high level of satisfaction with ALERT, but uncertainty concerning the reliability of the systems, since few have yet been tested in actual flash floods.