Why has floodplain management shifted toward allowing some areas to flood naturally?

Floodplain management has shifted toward allowing some areas to flood naturally because experience has demonstrated that attempting to achieve "total control" of a river as large as the Mississippi River is neither economically feasible nor physically possible.1

Historically, the construction of extensive levee systems and other engineering works aimed to contain the river and protect adjacent lands. However, catastrophic events—such as the floods of 1993 and the impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005—revealed that these structures often fail to provide sufficient protection against major flood events.231

Consequently, the focus of management has evolved toward "living with the river." This strategy emphasizes limiting land use in flood-prone areas to activities that can tolerate periodic inundation, rather than relying solely on engineered structures to prevent damage. By allowing these low-lying areas to flood naturally, the floodplain can perform its vital hydrologic role of storing excess water, which helps reduce the magnitude of flood crests downstream.314