| April O’Leary is long-time resident of Conway, South Carolina, and she’s seen first-hand the impact of fill and build: “Our little family home flooded over a year ago and yet I continue to see county representatives approve development in areas that typically flood. They do it by bringing in fill, increasing the flood risk for everybody else!” Lots of other people too have started speaking out – folks from Kingswood, Port Arthur and Houston, Texas; Gulf Breeze and Pensacola, Florida, Charleston and Conway, South Carolina and many other of places. The communities cited are Higher Ground members. They’ll tell how filling in floodplains has damaged their lives. Stopping fill and build won’t be easy. Real estate developers deploy an army of lobbyists and a well- funded PAC to influence the politicians and administrators who write the laws about who can build and where. But things are changing. Flood survivors themselves and their allies are marching in protests, and storming city halls, state capitols and the halls of Congress. They also talk to the press, are also active on social media, and file lawsuits. Banning fill and build will do more than just reduce flooding. It will also lower insurance premiums for residents in communities that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System. And it will do this without hindering the growth of new housing. Most communities have ample developable land outside the floodplain, but even if they don’t, there are ways to build safely in already developed areas prone to flooding. These include the use of post and pile foundations, and the placement of homes or businesses on top of garages or tall crawlspaces. |
