Retreat Strategies

Abstract

In contrast to “attack” and “defend” strategies that advance or protect the line of defense, retreat is an “accommodation” strategy that lets water in. The planned, “strategic” retreat solutions that are featured in this section include raising ground plains, floodproofing buildings (e.g., amphibious homes), and developing Room for the River, a Dutch program that relocated dikes to create additional space for water within the river’s floodplains. But retreat can also be unplanned, as a response to a disaster, as will likely happen to the vast majority of the world’s people living in flood zones if no adequate flood management strategies are put in place. Retreat avoids the costs of flood protection and is the most long-term solution, because it essentially moves people and assets away from areas of flood risk, whether uphill, above, or on water.