Marble Falls       The Texas legislature is famously hyper partisan now and attracting attention nationally for its efforts to gerrymander some additional congressional districts to help Republicans maintain control of the US House of Representatives.  Democrats have threatened to walk out on the effort, but it’s almost a symbolic protest.  Several states in the blue column have threatened to do the same to counter this hardball tactic, but might be more boots than cattle.  It does turn out that there is something both parties can agree on in the Texas legislature, and that’s the negligent effort by three Kerr County public officials who didn’t answer the call to protect their communities from the recent tragic flooding which has killed more than 130 people.

Maybe flooding risk is in fact something we can all agree deserves attention and demands action.  The New York Times ran an article that cited work being done by a nonprofit think tank called First Street.  They looked at the footprint of flooding risk around the country on FEMA maps and then extrapolated that data over the next twenty-five years to 2050 to look at where the risks are serious and increasing.  Working with Arkansas Grassroots United, we asked the Anthropocene Alliance researcher, Brooke Butler, if she could get her hands on the First Street data so that the members of AGU could see which communities in Arkansas might be most imperiled.  She crunched the data and ran the PowerPoint at their July meeting for their discussion.

The AGU members didn’t just get their feet wet in the presentation; they were inundated as well.  Look at the numbers:

• 247,600 properties are at risk of flooding in the next 30 years.
• there is a 99% chance of flooding for 79,400 of these properties.
• Since 2000, 64,100 property owners have made flood damage claims in Arkansas.
• The “wet” spots ran from North Little Rock and Hot Springs with the greatest number of properties at risk to towns like Helena/West Helena where 23% of the properties were at risk.

You get the picture.  This is a problem, and Arkansas isn’t ready.  Looking at the First Street maps nationally, neither is anyone else.

In the wake of the Texas tragedy, we were specifically looking at the need for better warning systems, like sirens.  There may be other demands that need to be made in other communities, both locally and at the state level, and this is everywhere as well.

The AGU members were unanimous in decided to narrow the research so that an organizing and outreach plan could be made to those communities most immediately at risk in Arkansas.  ACORN’s takeaway from this research is that the same project should probably be near the top of the list across the country.  Working with the Anthropocene Alliance, we’re looking to make the case.