New Study Shows that Mitigation Can Provide $6 Benefit for Every $1 Spent

Flood mitigation goes beyond dollars and cents

The benefits of mitigation cannot be overstated. Community leaders are driven to take action in order to revitalize neighborhoods, improve public spaces, enhance public safety and boost the community’s competitiveness.

• Avoided property losses
• Avoided business & education interruption
• Ecosystem benefits
• Avoided loss of critical infrastructure
• Revitalized neighborhoods
• Improved public spaces
• Enhanced public safety
• Increased competitiveness for the community

Research shows community benefits of flood mitigation

Research and analysis from the National Institute of Building Sciences indicates that the economic benefits from hazard mitigation significantly outweigh the costs by as much as 6:1 when using traditional cost-benefit analysis. When broader benefits are considered, values could be even higher than 6:1.

Solutions exist to support flood mitigation investment

Funding flood mitigation is a challenge, but creative local solutions and diverse financing sources to fund mitigation projects can ease the financial strain on communities. Federal and other governmental assistance programs are in place to help ease the financial burden for homeowners and community leaders. Communities can leverage local resources to help cover costs as well.

Flood mitigation can create significant discounts of up to 45% on flood insurance

After investing in mitigation many of the communities analyzed improved their Community Rating System (CRS) class and received significant discounts on flood insurance, putting money back in the pockets of property owners.

The benefits of flood mitigation result from local action

Twenty-one case studies profile communities that invested in flood mitigation. The case studies feature the return on investment for taking action, key successes and challenges of each project, and how the community has benefited.

Follow the link for 21 examples of communities reducing flood risk in the United States from Massachusetts to Louisiana (Jefferson Parish) at floodeconomics.com/flood-mitigation-takeaways.

Download the Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2017 Interim Report or access the full Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2017 Interim Report and Supporting Documents.