Contact: Michelle Burnett, CFM RIFMA Chair 401-462-7048
5 TH ANNUAL RIFMA CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT Warwick, RI: The 5th Annual Rhode Island Flood Mitigation Association (RIMFA) Conference and Membership Meeting was held at the Airport Radisson in Warwick, Rhode Island on April 26th, 2011. This year’s conference focused on innovative approaches to floodplain management. The conference theme was derived from the unprecedented impacts that Rhode Island faced during the extensive flooding in March 2010. The conference committee hoped to raise awareness of state of the art technologies and foster discussion of what is needed to advance the field of floodplain management, including anticipating and conveying flood risk, setting benchmarks for flood preparedness, and use of innovative tools. The conference was opened by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse who commended the efforts of state and local officials during the March 2010 flood and cautioned that in a climatologically uncertain future, flood preparedness will be of the utmost importance. A keynote address by Louis Gritzo, vice president and manager of research at FM Global, followed Senator Whitehouse’s remarks. Dr. Gritzo discussed the role that human psychology plays in disaster risk decision-making and noted that risk can be controlled if appropriate pre-disaster actions are taken. FM Global is a commercial insurance company that approaches risk management through a combination of engineering, underwriting, and claims. The remainder of the morning session was centered on current initiatives in floodplain management. Janet Freedman of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) discussed tools for community assessment and planning. Kevin Farmer of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) gave an overview of the NRCS watershed programs and Dean Audet from Fuss and O’Neill detailed several projects implemented under the program. Janet Burke of the Warwick Sewer Authority provided a synopsis of what happened at the Warwick wastewater treatment plant during the March 2010 flood. Nils Wiberg of Fuss and O’Neill closed the session with an in-depth look at the challenges involved in repairing a high-hazard dam. Following the overview of current initiatives, the afternoon sessions focused on tools being used in the field and a look at the future of floodplain management. Kenneth Filarski, owner of Filarski Architecture discussed sustainable planning for floodplain management and a team of people from the Storm Smart Coasts program gave an overview of the new Storm Smart Coast website for Rhode Island (http://ri.stormsmart.org/). Cynthia Baumann from CDM talked about integrating public collaboration with floodplain model calibration. Finally, Gardner Bent from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) closed the afternoon session with a look at flood inundation mapping.
About RIFMA: The Rhode Island Flood Mitigation Association (RIFMA, Inc.) was formed In October 2006. The goal of the organization is to form a network of professionals who could bring their ideas and experiences to a forum for people to share and learn from. The result of the Association is a network of floodplain managers, Stakeholders, government officials and other professionals who can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of all aspects of floodplain management in the State of Rhode Island.