Most communities in the United States can experience some kind of flooding after spring rains, heavy thunderstorms, or winter snow thaws.
Floods can be slow, or fast rising but generally develop over a period of days.
Flooding has caused the deaths of more than 10,000 people since 1900. Also significantly, nearly 9 of every 10 presidential disaster declarations result from natural phenomena in which flooding was a major component. The 1968 Act provided for the availability of flood insurance within communities that were willing to adopt floodplain management programs to mitigate future flood losses. The act also required the identification of all floodplain areas within the United States and the establishment of flood-risk zones within those areas. As a result of the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flooding along the East coast, the 1968 Act was expanded by the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973.