Floodplain Management Plans: A Floodplain Management Plan is a document that identifies the hazards and impacts of flooding in a given area. The plan identifies ways that a community can reduce the impacts of flooding and make effective use of water and related land resources within the floodplain. A FMP takes into consideration all structural and non-structural measures that could help achieve its objectives.

The FMP will serve as a blueprint that can be implemented by the Cities and Counties. It will include:

• Flood risk reduction strategies that are current, technically sound and considers all possible mitigation alternatives and the consequences of those alternatives.
• Prioritization of resources to reduce risk to the furthest extent and minimize effect on natural floodplain functions.
• Fosters public and political support for activities and projects and a constituency that wants to see the plan’s recommendations implemented.

Lower Meramec Floodplain: Three record flood events have occurred within the Lower Meramec Basin since August 2015, and new record stages have been recorded on all river gages in the two million acre Meramec Basin. Damages in the Meramec River Basin are attributed to many factors including increased frequency of heavy rainfall and severe storms, geology, topography, land use changes, storm water runoff, and loss of wetlands and open space. Land use changes  in the Lower Meramec floodplain and other flood-prone areas of the watershed has reduced flood storage.

The multi-jurisdictional floodplain management plan identified specific action items (and their timing) for non-structural measures, practices, and policies to reduce loss of life, injuries, damages to property and facilities, public expenditures, and other adverse impacts associated with flooding.