Flood control encompasses structural and non-structural measures designed to reduce the damaging impacts of flooding on communities, infrastructure, and the environment.
Flood control refers to the comprehensive set of strategies, infrastructure, and policies employed to reduce the frequency, magnitude, and impacts of flooding on human settlements, agricultural lands, and critical infrastructure. Structural measures include dams and reservoirs that attenuate flood peaks, levees and floodwalls that contain floodwaters within channels, channel modifications (widening, deepening, straightening), and diversion channels that route floodwaters away from vulnerable areas. Non-structural measures encompass floodplain zoning and land use regulations, flood forecasting and early warning systems, flood insurance programs (such as the National Flood Insurance Program in the United States), building codes that require flood-resistant construction, and managed retreat from high-risk areas. Modern flood management increasingly emphasizes natural flood management techniques including wetland and floodplain restoration, upstream storage and detention, urban green infrastructure (permeable pavements, bioswales, rain gardens), and room-for-the-river approaches that give rivers more space to flood safely. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has historically been the primary federal agency responsible for flood control infrastructure, managing thousands of miles of levees and hundreds of dams. Climate change is expected to increase flood risk in many regions through more intense precipitation events, sea level rise, and changes in snowmelt timing.