Are School Systems Causing Flooding?

It has been almost 5 wonderful years since my wife and I adopted our beautiful daughter Lydia. This kid sure loves life as you can see below.

I wish my mom had lived to see her be born. For many years my mom watched our struggles as we tried to have children and when the day came she wasn't here to see it.

As parents we all want what's best for our children. We want to get them on the best sports teams, we want them to have the best teacher, and we want them in the best schools. Most importantly we want them to be happy even if that means we aren't in the drivers seat.

I know this story probably better than anybody. Growing up with a learning disability I watched my parents fight for me to have the best schools and resources.

Recently we were looking for homes in a certain area where the city, county, and school each charge their own tax. It made living in this particular area very expensive but the schools were also very good. I also think this tax may have also kept the enrollment level at the school at a manageable area.

These are some of the challenges good school systems face. You have an influx of people who move to an area to get their kids into a certain school system. This exact thing is happening in Franklin Tennessee and Madison Alabama.

It's also the same thing that happened in Shelby county Alabama the last 20 years. Shelby county was one of the fastest growing counties in the country for a long time. Maybe it should not be any surprise that Pelham, Helena, and Alabaster all struggle with flood prone areas.

Some areas are trying to find a way to manage this growth.

Madison Alabama has even looked at charging a one time fee for buying home in a certain area to help slow down some of the growth.

As we mentioned before when you have great schools in an area you have a lot of people that want to move to that area and many times that means building new housing to support that.

It's not unusual to drive through parts of Madison Alabama and Franklin Tennessee and see 6 different builders with signs on a corner.

So are these school systems and our best intentions as parents causing flooding?

As crazy as it seems this could be one of the major factors in the increase of flooding in some of these areas. In a natural setting 90% of rainfall is consumed by the soil. However when this area is developed 90% of that rainfall now becomes runoff.

It has been proven that land development is a leading factor in flood maps changing and the risk of flooding increasing.

So you may ask why is my area getting flooded more often or more flood warnings at least?

Well this massive growth in these school systems can lead to quick land development leaving limited space for the water to go.

So what can you do to protect yourself?

Well it takes FEMA a while to catch up on doing flood insurance study reports. I mean some flood maps across the country were just updated for the first time in 50 years.

Even if your property is listed in a minimal risk zone or a flood zone x it is recommended that you carry flood insurance.

Almost 30% of flooding occurs in these areas and even regular flooding. Just ask the residents of Nathans Estates in Muscle Shoals Alabama who found their homes under water in 2019.

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