American Flood Coalition

Our founder Melissa Roberts gives thoughts on the end of hurricane-season, the impacts of flooding, and the work we can do to drive long-term solutions. Watch her waterloop episode here: https://lnkd.in/ew-dFnim

🌟 Grateful to have attended the South Carolina COGs Annual Conference this past week! It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with local leaders and stakeholders who are working tirelessly to create real, lasting impacts in their communities. A big thank you to the American Flood Coalition for taking part in sponsoring this important event. We recognize how vital Councils of Governments (COGs) are in fostering regional collaborations and advancing resilience efforts for local communities. It’s always inspiring to be in the room with people dedicated to building a more resilient future. Here’s to continued partnerships and progress! #Resilience #FloodResilience #RegionalCollaboration #SC #COGs

"If we don't focus on policy and changing the system we're not setting up our most vulnerable communities for success." Our Founder Melissa Roberts joins waterloop podcast to discuss the nationwide impacts of flooding, the need for innovative, community-driven solutions, and how watershed-based planning and proactive, data-driven investments can build long-term flood resilience. https://lnkd.in/ev7RT-Sr

Our Founder/Executive Director Melissa Roberts on FEMA's new Public Assistance Mitigation Cost Share Incentives that can cover up to 85% of the cost for disaster recovery projects:

Proud to see the results of our work with Iowa Flood Center and City of Muscatine, where we collaborated on a study to better understand flood challenges and opportunities in the city. More on our Iowa Flood Resilient Communities Cohort that helps improve access to federal funding for communities across the state: https://lnkd.in/eHR54_En

7️⃣8️⃣% of Americans say they want to empower farmers to lead on solutions to flooding But what does that look like? How do we keep cropland in production, support farmers, and reduce flooding? For the first time, American Flood Coalition and our partners at Iowa State University have actually measured how multi-cropping (growing multiple crops in one growing season 🌽🌾) can reduce flooding downstream! And it measures up: multi-cropping could reduce flooding 3️⃣0️⃣% in the watershed we looked at - Cedar River - and even more in others ➡️ This is a nature-based way to reduce flooding downstream, increase profits for farmers, and improve soil and water quality. 🚜 And we’ve seen this in action in our 2 farm pilots in Iowa over the last few years But would this really make a difference in people’s lives? We went back and modeled the devastating 2016 Cedar Rapids floods, and found that multi-cropping upstream would have: 🌊 Reduced flooding in 26% of the city (400 acres!) 🏠 Prevented 500 homes and businesses from flooding

Iowa is leading the way on flood-smart agriculture solutions! 🌾 We're excited to share new research in partnership with Iowa State University that shows how farmers can use multi-cropping to reduce flooding, boost soil health, and protect communities. https://lnkd.in/epWdFv3h

California and Washington are currently experiencing the devastating impacts of a bomb cyclone. This means heavy rain, snow, and high winds, with an atmospheric river expected to follow close behind and dump an record-breaking 10-15 inches of rain. Over 300,000 homes are without power, and severe winds have sadly caused two deaths. We're also seeing a significant risk for landslides, a reminder of how hazards can impact one another. To make matters worse, a second major windstorm is projected to hit many of the same areas in the next 24 hours. As we keep the impacted communities in our thoughts, this storm is a stark reminder that disasters can happen any time and are becoming more frequent and intense. Recent storms like Helene and Milton showed that severe weather doesn't always wait for the previous storm to pass, often they hit while communities are still struggling to recover from the previous storm. This underscores the core of our work at American Flood Coalition: the urgent need for proactive, forward-looking investments in stronger infrastructure that can withstand these increasingly devastating storms. https://lnkd.in/eaPR8QiD

This week, the American Flood Coalition had the privilege of hosting a dinner with elected leaders from Western North Carolina who are tackling the challenges of recovery after Hurricanes Helene. For many, Hurricane Helene has already faded from the headlines. But for the many communities it devastated, the fight is far from over. In fact, we know that all too often it takes *years* to navigate complex federal programs and rebuild, and that some families are never made whole. We talked about: 🔹 The power of large and small communities coming together to share resources and solutions 🔹 The tension between rebuilding fast and rebuilding smart - when in fact we need to do both 🔹 The uphill battle of navigating complex federal funding programs while addressing immediate recovery needs. Grateful to North Carolina’s leaders for their vision and determination, and taking this message directly to DC. And that even in the midst of tragedy, these leaders are fighting not only for their own communities, but for a better vision for the entire region that doesn't leave any community behind.

We're honored to meet with and be supportive of leaders from Western North Carolina