Abstract
In the United States, mitigating the adverse impacts of flooding has increasingly become the responsibility of local decision makers. Despite the importance of understanding why flood mitigation techniques are implemented at the local level, few empirical studies have been conducted over the last decade. Our study addresses this lack of research by examining the factors influencing local communities to adopt both structural and non-structural flood mitigation strategies. We use statistical models to predict multiple flood mitigation techniques implemented by cities and counties based on a survey of floodplain administrators and planning officials across Texas and Florida. Particular attention is paid to the role of organizational capacity to address floods in addition to various local geophysical and socioeconomic characteristics. Results indicate that organizational capacity is a significant factor contributing to the implementation of both structural and non-structural flood mitigation techniques, even when controlling for contextual characteristics.
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Notes
While past studies have analyzed capacity and commitment as separate variables, we combine these two concepts into one measure for two reasons. First, the modern organizational design literature often considers commitment a component of capacity. Second, the two variables are so highly correlated statistically, that we could not analyze them in the same equation due to very high levels of multicollinearity.
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This article is based on research supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation Grant No. CMS-0346673. The findings and opinions reported are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the funding organizations or those who provided assistance with various aspects of the study.
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Brody, S.D., Kang, J.E. & Bernhardt, S. Identifying factors influencing flood mitigation at the local level in Texas and Florida: the role of organizational capacity. Nat Hazards 52, 167–184 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-009-9364-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-009-9364-5