What is the recommended flood protection strategy for critical facilities?

Keeping critical facilities out of the 500-year floodplain is considered a best practice for flood protection. The rationale behind this strategy is rooted in the importance of protecting essential services that communities rely on during and after flood events. The 500-year floodplain represents an area with a significantly lower risk of flooding compared to the 100-year floodplain, which is why situating critical infrastructure outside this zone minimizes the potential for damage and ensures that these facilities can remain operational during extreme weather events.

This approach aligns with the goal of enhancing the resilience of communities by prioritizing the safety and functionality of vital services such as hospitals, emergency services, power plants, and water supply facilities. Ensuring that these facilities are not located within higher-risk flood zones greatly contributes to disaster preparedness and community recovery efforts.

While elevation, floodproofing, and placing facilities in lower flood zones can also be strategies employed for flood mitigation, the key concept here is the proactive measure of avoiding placement within the higher-risk floodplain altogether.