Overrepresentation of Historically Underserved and Socially Vulnerable Communities Behind Levees in the United States

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Abstract

Infrastructure equity is an immediate concern with levees, constituting the backbone of the U.S. protection against flooding. Flooding patterns are exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change in several regions, posing a significant risk to the economy, safety, and well‐being of the nation. The evolving risk of flooding is shown to disproportionately affect historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities (HUSVCs). Here we compare the sociodemographic and socioeconomic composition of leveed and non‐leveed U.S. communities and show a substantial overrepresentation of HUSVCs in leveed areas at the state, regional, and national levels. Further, we analyze the proportion of communities designated as “disadvantaged” in leveed versus non‐leveed areas, revealing a substantially larger population of disadvantaged communities residing behind levees. Our analyses show that nationally, Hispanic are the most overrepresented population in leveed areas yielding a disparity percentage of 39.9%, followed by Native American (18.7%), Asian (17.7%), and Black (16.1%) communities. Communities characterized by low education, poverty, and disability exhibit a disproportionately higher presentation of 27.8%, 20.4%, and 5.4% in leveed areas across the U.S. In 43 states, disadvantaged communities are overrepresented behind levees, with a national disparity percentage of 40.6%. At the regional level, the highest disparity was observed in the Northeast (57.3%), followed by the West (51.3%), Southeast (38%), Midwest (29.2%), and Southwest (25%). The findings can enable decision‐ and policy‐makers to identify hotspots within HUSVCs that need to be prioritized for enhancing the integrity and climate adaptation of their levee systems.

Plain Language Summary

Levees constitute the backbone of the nation's protection system against flooding, which is shown to disproportionately impact historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities (HUSVCs). Here we identify disparities in levee‐protected U.S. communities by comparing several sociodemographic and socioeconomic attributes in non‐leveed areas with tracts behind levees listed in the National Levee Database. Further, we analyze the proportion of leveed versus non‐leveed communities designated as “disadvantaged.” We found a substantial overrepresentation of HUSVCs in leveed areas at the state, regional, and national levels. Nationally, the major disparities are found to be Hispanic (39.9%), low education (27.8%), poverty (20.4%), native American (18.7%), Asian (17.7%), and Black (16.1%). Regionally, In the Midwest and Southeast, 60.6% and 40.2%, respectively, more Black populations live behind levees. In the West, the largest disparities are education (40.5%) and Hispanic or Latino (38.6%). In 43 states, disadvantaged communities are overrepresented behind levees, with a national disparity percentage of 40.6%. The highest regional disparity was observed in the Northeast (57.3%), followed by the West (51.3%), Southeast (38%), Midwest (29.2%), and Southwest (25%). The findings can enable decision‐ and policy‐makers to identify hotspots within HUSVCs that need to be prioritized for enhancing the integrity of their levee systems.

Key Points

Infrastructure equity is an immediate concern with levees
We found substantial disparities in race/ethnicity, education, poverty, and disability of leveed‐ versus non‐leveed U.S. communities
Historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities are substantially overrepresented in leveed areas compared to non‐leveed areas

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Doubling of coastal flooding frequency within decades due to sea-level rise

Sean Vitousek, Patrick Barnard, Charles Fletcher … (2017)

Global climate change drives sea-level rise, increasing the frequency of coastal flooding. In most coastal regions, the amount of sea-level rise occurring over years to decades is significantly smaller than normal ocean-level fluctuations caused by tides, waves, and storm surge. However, even gradual sea-level rise can rapidly increase the frequency and severity of coastal flooding. So far, global-scale estimates of increased coastal flooding due to sea-level rise have not considered elevated water levels due to waves, and thus underestimate the potential impact. Here we use extreme value theory to combine sea-level projections with wave, tide, and storm surge models to estimate increases in coastal flooding on a continuous global scale. We find that regions with limited water-level variability, i.e., short-tailed flood-level distributions, located mainly in the Tropics, will experience the largest increases in flooding frequency. The 10 to 20 cm of sea-level rise expected no later than 2050 will more than double the frequency of extreme water-level events in the Tropics, impairing the developing economies of equatorial coastal cities and the habitability of low-lying Pacific island nations.

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Compounding effects of sea level rise and fluvial flooding

Brett Sanders, Gianfausto Salvadori, Hamed R. Moftakhari … (2017)

Population and assets in coastal regions are threatened by both oceanic and fluvial flooding hazards. Common flood hazard assessment practices typically focus on one flood driver at a time and ignore potential compounding impacts. Here we outline a unique bivariate flood hazard assessment framework that accounts for the interactions between a primary oceanic flooding hazard, coastal water level, and fluvial flooding hazards. Using the notion of “failure probability,” we also assess coastal flood hazard under different future sea level rise scenarios. The results show that, in a warming climate, future sea level rise not only increases the failure probability, but also exacerbates the compounding effects of flood drivers. Sea level rise (SLR), a well-documented and urgent aspect of anthropogenic global warming, threatens population and assets located in low-lying coastal regions all around the world. Common flood hazard assessment practices typically account for one driver at a time (e.g., either fluvial flooding only or ocean flooding only), whereas coastal cities vulnerable to SLR are at risk for flooding from multiple drivers (e.g., extreme coastal high tide, storm surge, and river flow). Here, we propose a bivariate flood hazard assessment approach that accounts for compound flooding from river flow and coastal water level, and we show that a univariate approach may not appropriately characterize the flood hazard if there are compounding effects. Using copulas and bivariate dependence analysis, we also quantify the increases in failure probabilities for 2030 and 2050 caused by SLR under representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5. Additionally, the increase in failure probability is shown to be strongly affected by compounding effects. The proposed failure probability method offers an innovative tool for assessing compounding flood hazards in a warming climate.