Flooding: Natural and Managed Disturbances

Abstract

Few events capture the public's attention like large, infrequent natural disturbances. Many people vividly recall the human deaths and suffering, economic losses, and environmental changes associated with the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens (1980), the large-magnitude earthquakes in Northern (1989) and Southern (1994) California, the passages of Hurricane Hugo (1989) and Hurricane Andrew (1992), and the extensive flooding of the Midwestern United States (1993). Floods are among the most common and costly large natural disturbances that affect the United States, according to data compiled by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency: Approximately 9 of every 10 presidential disaster declarations are associated with flooding; total flood damage costs from 1990-1997 reached nearly $34 billion; and more than 200 lives were lost due to flooding from 1990-1995. This issue of BioScience is devoted to examining natural and managed floods. There are several reasons to focus on the important role of flooding as a disturbance. First, numerous major floods occurred in the 1990s, including recent flooding caused by El Nifio-powered storms that affected the West and East