What Are the Benefits of Floodways?

Reducing Floods

• The main benefit of a floodway is the diversion of water away from populated areas. This means that families and businesses can avoid the disruption that flooding can bring to their lives, depending on the severity of the flood. The water in a floodway is typically sent along a divergent path that has fewer people living near it, thus lessening the impact caused by the increase in the water level.

Economic Benefits

• Floods can be devastating to families and businesses in the area they hit. Areas hit by floods take large economic hits. These costs include cleanup after the floodwater has receded, as well as remodeling or demolition of buildings that incurred water damage. Factories and stores in the flooded area must suspend business during the flood and must repair damage caused by the flood. Floodways keep these areas dry during times of flooding.

Flood Insurance

• People living in flood-prone areas are required to carry flood insurance on their homes. This insurance can be very expensive. Floodways reduce the number of people that are included in the flood zone. This reduces the cost of owning a home in these areas.

Expansion

• Using floodways also encourages expansion of businesses and homes in areas that previously would have been uninhabitable. Rivers that regularly overflow their banks make the floodplain an undesirable building location. Using floodways to protect these areas produces more usable space to expand and thus grow the local economy.