TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimal house elevation for reducing flood-related losses
AU - Xian, Siyuan
AU - Lin, Ning
AU - Kunreuther, Howard
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2017/5/1
Y1 - 2017/5/1
N2 - FEMA recommends that houses in coastal flood zones be elevated to at least 1 foot above the base flood elevation (BFE). However, this guideline is not specific and ignores characteristics of houses that affect their vulnerability. An economically optimal elevation level (OEL) is proposed that minimizes the combined cost of elevation and cumulative insurance premiums over the lifespan of the house. As an illustration, analysis is performed for various coastal houses in Ortley Beach, NJ. Compared with the strategy of raising houses to 1 foot above BFE, the strategy of raising houses to their OELs is much more economical for the homeowners. Elevating to the OELs also significantly reduces government spending on subsidizing low-income homeowners through, for example, a voucher program, to mitigate flood risk. These results suggest that policy makers should consider vulnerability factors in developing risk-reduction strategies. FEMA may recommend OELs to homeowners based on their flood hazards as well as house characteristics or at least providing more information and tools to homeowners to assist them in making more economical decisions. The OEL strategy can also be coupled with a voucher program to make the program more cost-effective.
AB - FEMA recommends that houses in coastal flood zones be elevated to at least 1 foot above the base flood elevation (BFE). However, this guideline is not specific and ignores characteristics of houses that affect their vulnerability. An economically optimal elevation level (OEL) is proposed that minimizes the combined cost of elevation and cumulative insurance premiums over the lifespan of the house. As an illustration, analysis is performed for various coastal houses in Ortley Beach, NJ. Compared with the strategy of raising houses to 1 foot above BFE, the strategy of raising houses to their OELs is much more economical for the homeowners. Elevating to the OELs also significantly reduces government spending on subsidizing low-income homeowners through, for example, a voucher program, to mitigate flood risk. These results suggest that policy makers should consider vulnerability factors in developing risk-reduction strategies. FEMA may recommend OELs to homeowners based on their flood hazards as well as house characteristics or at least providing more information and tools to homeowners to assist them in making more economical decisions. The OEL strategy can also be coupled with a voucher program to make the program more cost-effective.
KW - Affordability
KW - FEMA
KW - NFIP flood insurance
KW - Optimal elevation level
KW - Voucher program
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.02.057
DO - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.02.057
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85014518914
SN - 0022-1694
VL - 548
SP - 63
EP - 74
JO - Journal of Hydrology
JF - Journal of Hydrology
ER -