The Soil Conservation Service Responds to the 1993 Midwest Floods

By Steven Phillips, 1994

NRCS plays a significant role in emergency responses to natural disasters. This publication provides case studies of the agency response to the 1993 Midwestern floods. Starting in the Spring of that year, record amounts of rainfall fell over much of the Missouri and Mississippi river valleys causing devastating floods. The Soil Conservation Service was deeply involved in the federal responds to the floods. Through its Emergency Watershed Program (EWP), SCS provided technical and financial assistance to hundreds of communities across the Midwest. The resources devoted to flood recovery far exceeded any previous emergency response by the agency. This volume provides a detailed account of these events and discussion of key issues in the debates over flood control and flood plain management that continue to be salient to the present.