Revision Needed in Proposed Regulation for Evaluating Nonstructural Evacuation and Relocation Benefits

Nonstructural measures for solving or minimizing flood problems are encouraged by law. However, the Corps of Engineers does not recommend nonstructural flood protection measures with Federal financial participation. Until recently, there has been a lack of policy and guidance concerning nonstructural flood protection measures.

GAO found that, recently, the administration has promoted the use of nonstructural measure and encouraged the wise use of the floodplain terminated survey work. Guidelines related to the evaluation of benefits for floodplain evacuation and relocation projects need to be revised. In addition, proposed legislation should be revised to include both income tax revenue resulting from deductions for flood casualty losses and the Federal subsidy for low interest SBA loans. The regulation should be as explicit as possible to clearly identify, for the field offices, those external costs associated with floodplain occupancy that should be considered in estimating project benefits.