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Flood Impacts on Utilities and Infrastructure Roads that are blocked or damaged can isolate community members and can prevent access throughout the planning area, including for emergency service providers needing to get to vulnerable populations or to make repairs. Bridges washed out or blocked by floods or debris also can cause isolation. Underground utilities can be damaged. Levees can fail or be overtopped, inundating the land that they protect. Floodwaters can back up drainage systems, causing localized flooding. Culverts can be blocked by debris from flood events, also causing localized urban flooding. Floodwaters can get into drinking water supplies, causing contamination. Sewer systems can be backed up, causing wastewater to spill into homes, neighborhoods, rivers, and streams. 11.4.4 Environment Flooding can impact the environment in negative ways. Migrating fish can wash into roads or over dikes into flooded fields, with no possibility of escape. Pollution from roads, such as oil, and hazardous materials can wash into rivers and streams. During floods, these can settle onto normally dry soils, polluting them for agricultural uses. Human development, such as bridge abutments, levees or logjams from timber harvesting, can increase stream bank erosion, causing rivers and streams to migrate into non-natural courses. Many species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish live in the planning area in plant communities that are dependent upon streams, wetlands and floodplains. Wildlife and fish are impacted when plant communities are eliminated or fundamentally altered to reduce habitat. Since water supply is a major limiting factor for many animals, riparian communities are of special importance. Loss estimation platforms such as Hazus are not currently equipped to measure environmental impacts of flood hazards. The best gauge of vulnerability of the environment would be a review of damage from past flood events. Loss data that segregates damage to the environment was not available at the time of this plan. Capturing this data from future events could be beneficial in measuring the vulnerability of the environment for future updates. 11.5 FUTURE TRENDS IN DEVELOPMENT Any areas of future growth and development could be impacted by the flood hazard if located within identified hazard areas. The County intends to discourage development within vulnerable areas and/or to encourage higher regulatory standards on the local level. The County and its planning partners are equipped to handle future growth in flood hazard areas. All municipal planning partners have general plan safety elements that address frequently flooded areas and have committed to linking their general plans to this hazard mitigation plan update. This will create an opportunity for wise land use decisions as future growth impacts flood hazard areas. In addition, partners who are participating in good standing in the NFIP have agreed to regulate new development in the mapped floodplain according to standards that equal or exceed those specified under 44 CFR Section 60.3. This will ensure that any development allowed in the floodplain will be constructed such that the flood risk exposure is eliminated or significantly reduced. Additionally, with 25 percent of municipalities in the County participating in the CRS program, there is incentive to adopt consistent, appropriate, higher regulatory standards in communities with the highest degree of flood risk. All municipal planning partners have committed to maintain their good standing under the NFIP through initiatives identified in this hazard mitigation plan. Communities participating or considering participation in the CRS program will be able to refine this commitment using CRS programs and templates as a guide. 11-27