As I write this article, powerful Hurricane Irma is bearing down on Florida, and Hurricane Jose is close behind it, farther out in the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Irma has already devastated parts of the Caribbean Islands, and now threatens Florida. By the time you read this, sadly, there will have been more damage and devastation. And these two storms come on the heels of Hurricane Harvey which just recently wreaked its own havoc on the City of Houston and coastal Texas.

Before the flood waters of Hurricane Harvey even began to recede from Houston, and while officials and volunteers were still searching for and rescuing people from their flooded neighborhoods, the critics and analysts began to come out in force to discuss and opine on the causes of the flooding. Aside from the obvious fact that Hurricane Harvey was a massive storm that stalled and lingered over coastal Texas dumping epic and historic amounts of rain, the critics focused on other causes, both natural and manmade. And among those criticisms was poor land use planning and development.

As everyone now knows, the City of Houston is remarkably flat and barely above sea level, and is prone to flooding. For that reason, Houston has a system of numerous canals, bayous and reservoirs. Those bayous and reservoirs were no match, however, for a large and powerful hurricane like Harvey with its historic rainfall levels.

Critics have focused on the fact that Houston is a city of limited land use development and zoning laws, and as a result is a vast city of sprawling, uncontrolled development. Along with land development come roads, parking lots, rooftops and other areas of impervious surface which don’t absorb rain. Insufficient drainage and lack of appropriate storm water management and runoff result in flooding in large or sudden rain events.

The State of Maryland and its counties and municipalities have strict environmental, land use and development regulations, including for storm water management, sediment and erosion control, riparian and wetland regulations and buffers, and other regulations controlling land use and development. While at times these regulations may seem onerous, they can also be helpful in alleviating or reducing flooding.

Certainly no government can regulate itself around the power of nature and hurricanes, but with proper planning and land use regulations, development can continue to be a benefit to communities.

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