Read the flood mitigation document and write a very thorough outline based on the instructions listed below.

Unit 1 Research Paper Topic

The risk reduction plan topic within my community and that I will be writing about is the lack

of proper response and mitigation planning for the flooding issue in Tennessee. I moved to

Tennessee from Southern California in 2008 and was not really accustomed to seeing actual

flooding disasters. The flood of 2010 that happened here in the area that I live in was declared a

national disaster and I was able to see the devastation first hand while working as a member of

our fire departments swift water rescue and recovery team. Below is a brief description about the

flood that occurred in 2010 and I will be creating a risk reduction plan that covers future

planning and mitigation processes based on the lessons learned from this flood.

 

    From April 30^th to May 2^nd 2010, approximately 14 inches of rain fell on the Nashville,

Davidson county and surrounding areas. The runoff from this large rain storm had been the

largest of its size in 500 years according to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the

Army Corps of Engineers. The rising waters had affected several major lakes, rivers, and streams

that stretched over 4 states. According to the article Nashville 2010 May 2010 Flooding by

floods.org, 2012 the record rains fell across the Cumberland River basin, which stretches across

north-central Tennessee to its headwaters in southeastern Kentucky. The Cumberland is 688

miles long with a basin area of over 18,000 square miles, Nashville lying roughly in the middle

of the watershed. A rainfall event of the magnitude the area experienced occurs only every 5,000

to 8,000 years, and the resulting flood runoff volumes nearly overwhelmed the system of eight

major flood-control/hydroelectric dams and reservoirs on the Cumberland and its main

tributaries, including the Harpeth, Red, Stones, Caney Fork, and Obey rivers. Careful,

compensatory emergency dam releases lowered dangerous flood levels in these reservoirs but at

the inevitable expense of Nashville-Davidson, districts of which were inundated soon after the

rains and releases and remained so for weeks after. The severity of flooding at this epicenter and

elsewhere prompted federal disaster declarations in dozens of counties in Tennessee and

Kentucky, followed by a lengthy recovery process.

 

References

 

http://www.damsafety.org/media/Documents/FEMA/TS21_DamSafetyResources/PAPE

R_ASSOCIATED_WITH_PRESENTATION_15.pdf

 

Attachments:

• 1502177223-20161218235242outline_instructions.docx