Strong rains began to fall heavily throughout central and southern Louisiana in the heat of August 2016. Not unusual for hot, humid Louisiana at this time of year, but the rains increased as time went on, and it just kept raining. “It started on a Friday,” says Carolyn McKnight, superintendent of BREC, the park and recreation agency of the Parish of East Baton Rouge, “and it rained day and night. We began to hear from our employees that rivers were rapidly rising and our parks were becoming flooded. It was a rain like we had never seen before.”
In fact, it rained more than 30 inches in some localities in Louisiana in less than a week, causing a flood of biblical proportions. Almost 100,000 homes and businesses in the greater Baton Rouge area were damaged or destroyed. Thirteen people lost their lives and it’s been estimated that property damage will exceed $8 billion. The Louisiana flood has been classified as the worst natural disaster in the United States since Superstorm Sandy.
The Louisiana flood has been termed “a 1,000-year flood,” meaning that the probability of such a storm is estimated to have a .1 of 1 percent chance of occurring in a given year, or once every thousand years. However, the historic Louisiana flood was not the only 1,000-year flood in the United States in recent years. The state of West Virginia was ravaged by torrential rains on June 23, 2016, and South Carolina suffered enormous damage from extreme flooding in October 2015. According to insurance industry data, there have been six 1,000-year floods in the past five years preceding the Louisiana flood, and instead of abating, it appears that such events are growing in intensity and frequency.
Park and Recreation Agencies on the Frontlines
Increasingly, across the United States, states and localities are facing more frequent and unanticipated impacts from extreme weather, such as flooding, drought, hurricanes and other events that cause widespread property damage, dislocation of people, extended loss of power, health emergencies and overall disruptions to commerce and daily life.
Most scientific observers attribute the conditions that create extreme weather events to the effects of climate change; others assert they are just part of a cyclical pattern of events that is occurring with greater frequency and the causes are not yet known. No matter the root causes and explanations, the fact is that more and more park and recreation agencies across the nation are having to deal with the impacts of extreme events that cause immense property damage and affect the health and livelihood of communities.
What Is Your Plan?
When the Governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, declared a state of emergency during the flood of 2016, the impact of the disaster was still unfolding. The flooding came so quickly and was so widespread that the staff of BREC had little time to take proactive measures. When the governor issued a statewide declaration of emergency, Superintendent McKnight immediately followed with a similar announcement to declare the system closed and for only those staff deemed emergency personnel to report.
The agency invoked its emergency response plan, originally prepared in 2014 as a part of its NRPA Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA) requirements. BREC previously did not have a plan that identified emergency actions and responsibilities of staff — Superintendent McKnight noted that CAPRA standards require agencies to have an emergency response plan and since she had never been through the process of creating one, she worked with BREC’s risk manager and senior leadership team to forge a plan.
BREC’s plan identified individuals and their responsibilities during emergencies, but when the floods hit, they came to learn that up to 25 percent of the staff of the agency, including members of its emergency response team, was flooded out, complicating their response.
Superintendent McKnight’s military background and experience served her well. She followed the basics of early training she received from the Air Force, and it helped her to organize and prioritize their response.
One of their first tasks was to conduct an assessment — what was damaged, what was lost, what was threatened? BREC’s communications staff members quickly began to document the scope of the damage to their parks and communities, and their social media posts and other messaging became a vital place for news and updates. With daily messaging and on-scene photos, they were able to keep the media up-to-date as well as keep residents informed about damages to facilities, services offered to flood victims and the status of repairs and reopening. Employees felt connected and many came to work to help others, even though their own lives had been uprooted.
When the worst of the flood waters had passed, BREC staff quickly brought mobile recreation units and mobile art teams to shelters to give children healthy recreation activities and a place to play. As businesses began to reopen and adults struggled with putting lives and homes back in order, schools remained closed. BREC was able to reinstitute 13 day camps at its facilities across Baton Rouge Parish, providing care and activities for children and youth.
Working with other local, state and federal agencies was critical to return the park system and the community to a semblance of order. By prior agreement, BREC gave the National Guard and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development permission to stage operations at parks, to store and distribute relief supplies, and to temporarily stockpile storm debris in parks.
“When the community needed us, I am proud to say that BREC responded immediately, and our experience with severe weather allowed us to move quickly on multiple fronts,” says Superintendent McKnight. “We know recovery will be a long-term effort and our staff is continuing to find ways to help our community rebuild and recover.”
Not All Disasters Happen All at Once
The images that come to mind when one thinks of natural disasters that affect communities are usually of violent and fast-moving events — torrential rains and winds, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. But, other types of disasters can occur over longer periods and can even take years or decades to manifest. The coming “megadroughts” in the West appear to be that kind of disaster, even as we witness it happening.
Extreme drought has gripped the Southwest and Western United States for the past four to six years causing rivers and aquifers to run dry. Massive tree-death due to drought has struck a number of Southwest cities, notably Houston. But, a new study by NASA and Cornell and Columbia Universities points to evidence that the current droughts could last not just for another year or two, but for 20-30 years.
The impacts of such a drought are almost inconceivable, especially given the rapid pace of development in the Southwest and West. Water shortages, parched soils and massive, uncontrollable wildfires are only the beginning of the likely long-term consequences if such megadroughts occur.
Joel McKnight, assistant director of parks and recreation for the city of El Paso, says that this region of Texas has worked hard for the last 15-20 years to be prepared. They work closely with their water utility to ensure there is public green space in the city, a vital resource that is highly valued by people in their community.
Of course, if there is to be any green space in parks, it requires irrigation, and virtually every park has a highly controlled system to monitor and control every bit of water that is used. El Paso has gone to evapotranspiration (ET) irrigation systems; that is, centrally controlled computerized irrigation systems that measure the amount of evaporation of water from the soil and the transpiration of water by plants. They hope to install such systems in every park.
While El Paso is able to keep its 1,200 acres of turf and sports fields in good shape, the agency works from a plan and adapts as needed, sometimes on a daily basis. But, if they go into Stage 3 or 4 drought conditions, Assistant Director McKnight says, they will be required to make some hard choices. “This is not just about resiliency,” he adds, “it is about long-term sustainability.” In addition, he notes that it also is not just about preparing for long-term impacts of drought but is equally about preparing for floods. Dramatic increases in impervious surfaces combined with severely damaged soils and impeded natural infiltration has meant that the impacts of storms have become much greater, and they must plan for them as well.
Learning the Lessons
These long-term drought cycles have changed the way the agency designs and manages parks. Xeriscaping, once an interesting way to design desert landscapes, has become the standard for how parks are now designed. Instead of large expanses of turf, park designs now include buffer zones with native plant landscaping. “And, we no longer fertilize with agricultural-grade fertilizers,” Asst. Dir. McKnight says. “We fertilize only when plants need it and carefully water with the absolute minimum needed for uptake of nutrients.”
In Bakersfield, California, one of the top 10 cities in the United States projected to be affected by the coming megadroughts, Park and Recreation Director Dianne Hoover says that in an average year, they receive about 6 inches of rain. In the past five years, annual rainfall has been 2 inches or less.
The drought has been so profound in Bakersfield that their park system has lost thousands of full-size trees, and due to mandatory water conservation measures, they closed all of their spray parks in 2015 to the dismay of children and adults alike. “Our city has grown and will continue to grow,” says Hoover, “and the demands to manage water conservation will be even greater in the future. It is a real challenge.” Every one of Bakersfield’s 59 parks is controlled by an ET irrigation systems that is centralized, constantly monitored and finely tuned. The agency conducted a proactive campaign to educate the public and gain their support, and developed an app that allows the public to report problems or overspray of automated irrigation systems. “We asked the public for help,” says Hoover, “and the public has enthusiastically pitched in by taking pictures and identifying locations by GPS.” The agency got instant, real-time information and the complaint calls about wasted water have dropped dramatically.
Several common threads run through the stories of how park and recreation agencies handle emergency preparedness and disaster response. Almost without exception, those agencies that best weather disasters have emergency response plans in place and the staff is knowledgeable about what their roles are when disaster strikes. Disasters, by their very nature, cause disruptions and dislocations and no response plan meets the needs of every emergency. However, those agencies that can adapt as events unfold and maximize the lessons learned in the moment are those are able to recover.
Superintendent McKnight of BREC says that the after-incident reports of damages are vitally important if an agency is to recover and gain state and federal reimbursement. She recommends documenting losses extensively by word and photo and keeping detailed records that will be invaluable when attempting to gain insurance reimbursement or disaster recovery funds.
The importance of parks and recreation to communities cannot be overstated. Carolyn Kousky, a Fellow at the widely respected, Washington, D.C.-based research organization, Resources for the Future (RFF), says that RFF is studying the economic aspects of disaster recovery. She noted that FEMA has looked at the benefits of involving the “whole community in a proactive manner.” At the heart of this new approach is the importance of creating a culture of preparedness for the whole community through training and education. The co-benefits, especially to low-income and non-English speaking communities, have enabled other kinds of outreach, needs assessment and education opportunities.
“The post-disaster environment is extremely chaotic,” Kousky says. “Communities that are most able to respond effectively and develop a sustainable recovery are those that had plans in place and were able to follow a plan of action.” Residents want to see green benefits after disasters, too, and the field of parks and recreation is uniquely equipped to make this vision come alive.
Learn more about what to do before, during and after a variety of emergency situations.
The Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge contributed to this article.
Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA's Vice-President for Conservation and Parks.