Six Ways to Help Mitigate Flooding

Frontier Park, St. Charles, 2017

A couple weekends ago, the St. Louis area experienced a flash flood caused by an ungodly amount of rain falling all at once. The ground couldn't hold it, the storm drains got overwhelmed, and three inches of water gushed up from the drain into Zach's and my basement, destroying a whole lot of our roommate's stuff. Our house smelled like wet cardboard for a week, and it got me thinking about flooding.

Flooding is one of the realities of living in the Midwest (and elsewhere); like fire further west, it's one of the natural cycles that the larger ecosystem depends upon. However, it floods more severely than it needs to because of how we humans have changed the landscape. We've paved over permeable ground, drained wetlands, confined the rivers to deeper and narrower channels, and designed our neighborhoods and developments so that most of the water that falls on a large area gets quickly funneled into a rampaging torrent in our storm drains. Continued development, as well as climate change, contribute to flooding, so the problem is only going to get more severe! 

What that means for people like Zach and me, who technically live on the floodplain (it was rezoned into the floodplain a few years ago in response to increasing frequency of high water levels), remains to be seen. It will take cooperation and flexibility to deal with the challenges of increased flooding in the future.

With such a big issue, it may seem like there's not much one person can do to help. But you can make a difference! Check out these six ways you can help limit the frequency and severity of flooding.

1. Don't direct your downspouts into the street. If you live in a house, try to direct your downspouts onto permeable surfaces instead of into the street; while it's convenient to have the water run off immediately, it contributes to the overwhelm of storm drains. Most lawns can absorb a decent amount of water, or you could try one of the options in point #2. 

2. Build a rain garden and/or install a rain barrel. A shallow depression filled with water-loving plants is a great place to run water from your roof (see instructions for building one here). Rain barrels can also slow the flow of water and direct them to a rain garden. 

3. Talk to your neighbors about stormwater. The more people who get on board with managing rainwater, the better! If you see a neighbor's downspout gushing water into the street, ask if you can help them redirect it (perhaps into your rain garden!). Write a letter to a city newsletter. Help people see the connection between their gutters and the flooding problem.

4. Petition your city to create better rainwater strategies. If you live in a city prone to flooding, this should be a top priority for your city council. My hometown, St. Charles, has a long-range stormwater management plan, and has spent the past couple years doing huge infrastructure projects to update our storm drains, funded by a tax that we helped vote in (it clearly needs more work, but it's a great start). In addition, there is a stormwater policy in place for new developments. You can research whether or not your city has a policy like this, and if not, ask your councilperson why, and see if you can get some like-minded people together to petition for an official city-wide stormwater policy.

5. Support regenerative agriculture and encourage others to do the same. This may seem like a non-sequitur, but conventional farmland, while more permeable than concrete, is a huge source of stormwater run-off because heavily cultivated soil forms a protective crust over its surface that resists water. Farms that tend to the health of the soil create fields that absorb water rather than shedding it. (A mini example of this: after the flash-flood rain last week, our yard had no standing water at all, whereas a neighbor's heavily-tilled garden down the street had giant puddles in it for days.) Research farms in your area through LocalHarvest.org and see if you can support them through purchasing a CSA (community-supported agriculture) share or buying at their farmers' market booth or farmstand.

6. Protest floodplain development. The St. Louis area is notorious for wanting to develop on the floodplain. In fact, many floodplain developments are supported by tax breaks and other incentives! Meanwhile, these developments create less and less permeable surfaces for the water to sink into, making the water gather and overwhelm the storm drains. Talk to your city councilperson, mayor, city planners, etc. and tell them that you do not support floodplain development. (The Missouri Coalition for the Environment has some good petitions going— check this one out.)

As I said, in some areas— such as the confluence of the two biggest rivers in North America— flooding is inevitable. However, working together, communities can help mitigate a lot of the flooding (and save our precious resources for dealing with the largest floods) just by managing our rainwater more carefully. 

Have any other ideas for how to mitigate flooding? Drop them in the comments!

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