On July 7, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a tool to help communities prepare for and recover from floods. The Flood Resilience Checklist offers strategies that communities can consider, such as conserving land in flood-prone areas, directing new development to safer areas, and using green infrastructure approaches to manage stormwater.

The checklist is part of a new report, “Planning for Flood Recovery and Long-Term Resilience in Vermont: Smart Growth Approaches for Disaster-Resilient Communities.” The report is a product of a year-long Smart Growth Implementation Assistance project in Vermont where EPA worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and state agencies, including the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, to help communities recover from Tropical Storm Irene. Although the project focused on Vermont, the policy options and checklist in the report can help any community seeking to become more flood resilient.

As part of the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance project, FEMA and EPA also supported the development of Vermont State Agency Policy Options, a report that provides more detailed suggestions for how Vermont state agencies can coordinate their efforts to plan for, respond to, and recover from floods. EPA also will host a webinar on lessons learned from the Vermont project on Wednesday, August 13. Learn more.