Assessing Flood Mitigation Preparedness in Nebraska's Rural Communities Through Local Comprehensive Plans

ABSTRACT In the United States, research to date has primarily focused on mitigating urban coastal flood risks, with limited knowledge available on the planning capacity and effectiveness of flood mitigation in rural inland areas. This study addresses the gap by analyzing 162 publicly accessible local comprehensive plans from local jurisdictions across Nebraska, evaluating their preparedness for managing floodplains and reducing flood risks. The research examines how well Nebraska's communities, particularly rural ones, are prepared for flood risk reduction and whether they have adopted more proactive measures following the historic 2019 flood disaster. The evaluation criteria focus on three key areas: vulnerability assessment, policy toolkits, and coordination mechanisms. The findings reveal a mix of strengths and weaknesses across these categories. Overall, vulnerability assessment is generally low, with a score of 26.7%, indicating limited awareness and inadequate use of federal and state floodplain datasets to support rural planning. Policy toolkits, scoring 58.7%, are moderately available, suggesting that local communities have taken broader steps to address local flood risk reduction. Coordination mechanisms are relatively well‐established within local planning frameworks as found in 74.5% of the plans, showing promise for collaborative flood risk reduction efforts. In rural communities, particularly, the quality of plans is lower compared to urban communities. However, following the 2019 floods, rural communities have shown some improvement in enhancing floodplain management and planning. This research contributes to resilience planning theories, particularly for resource‐limited and disadvantaged rural communities in the United States.