Brian Varrella
Brian Varrella is an NHMA member and works as a Floodplain Administrator and Wildfire Recovery Specialist for the City of Fort Collins, Colorado. He currently serves as the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) Region 8 Director, and is Vice Chair of the Colorado Association of Stormwater and Floodplain Managers (CASFM). Brian is a licensed professional engineer and certified floodplain manager living and working in Colorado.
A passion for flood risk management stems from Brian’s personal experiences; he has survived and thrived after damage from 3 flood events in 2 states, though he has never lived in a Special Flood Hazard Area. He spends summers in the Rocky Mountains wading streams and rivers while flyfishing, and riding frozen rivers of water on the ski slopes through winter. As a floodplain manager Brian is able to draw from personal experience to make his community more resilient to foreseeable natural hazards.
Brian’s professional experience is equally balanced between private consulting experience and public sector service. He has enjoyed a wide variety of responsibility from assisting with development of statewide floodplain regulations to teaching 3-day technical courses under the Federal Highway Administration. He has worked in 19 states in his career and considers himself fortunate to be part of ASFPM’s mission to promote policies and activities that reduce human suffering from flooding.
Related Resources from Brian Varrella
Case Study of Property Values in Floodplains: Literature Search and Initial Findings