Latest Flood Headlines

All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Severe Weather Cuts Rail Links to Southwest England

Feb 10 2014 // Severe flooding and landslips cut off rail links to large parts of southwest England for more than 24 hours at the weekend as the government came under pressure for its handling of storms battering Britain. Some areas have...

How to Encourage Private Sector Flood Insurance

Feb 10 2014 // New technologies and a better understanding of flood risk may have increased private insurers’ interest in providing flood insurance but real obstacles remain to the private sector getting involved. The obstacles...

Flooded N.Y. Homeowners Regret Dropping Insurance

Feb 10 2014 // Some western New York residents whose homes were damaged by a snow-swollen river in January had only recently cancelled their federal flood insurance policies because of rate increases. About 70 houses in West Seneca, just...

22 Charged in Florida Staged Flood, Fire Fraud Ring

Feb 6 2014 // A major fraud ring that staged fires and floods at South Florida homes to collect millions of dollars in claims from insurance companies has been broken up with charges against 22 people, authorities said Tuesday. The...

Western U.K. Homes Remain Powerless after Storms Batter Coast

Feb 6 2014 // Hundreds of homes in western England and Wales remained without power today after storms cut lines and damaged railway tracks. About 280 households had electricity cuts as of 8:30 a.m. U.K. time, said Western Power...

Restoring Housing Focus of Next Round of $1.46B N.J. Sandy Aid

Feb 5 2014 // Restoring housing and shoring up critical infrastructure will be the focus of how New Jersey spends its next round of Superstorm Sandy relief money. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration said Monday that...

Preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps Released for 2 N.J. Counties

Feb 4 2014 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Monday released Preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for New Jersey’s Middlesex and Monmouth Counties that reflect the latest refinements to the ongoing...

Judge Dismisses Kmart’s Mississippi Flood Damage Suit Against Kroger

Feb 4 2014 // A federal judge has dismissed Kmart Corp.’s lawsuit over flood damage to one of its stores in Corinth. U.S. District Judge Glen Davidson ruled that Kmart has insufficient evidence to support its arguments that the...

Key House Republicans Oppose Delaying Flood Insurance Increases

Feb 4 2014 // The effort to delay huge increases in insurance premiums for homeowners in flood-prone areas faces a skeptical House chairman who is largely standing behind the changes Congress oversaw in the nation’s flood...

Mass. Rep. Keating Urges House Approval of Flood Insurance Bill

Feb 3 2014 // U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., is calling for swift passage of a flood insurance bill in the House that would give hundreds of thousands of homeowners a reprieve from higher flood insurance premiums. The Democrat said...

Private Flood Insurance Provider Steps Into Connecticut Market

Feb 3 2014 // A private flood insurance provider has stepped into Connecticut’s market, the first time homeowners along the shoreline battered by Superstorm Sandy have an alternative to increasingly costly federal insurance. The...

Flood Insurance and the Phantom Real Estate Crash

Jan 31 2014 // To hear proponents tell the tale, the reason the U.S. Senate voted yesterday to gut reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program that it had approved overwhelmingly just 18 months earlier was to stem the effects of the...

UK Insurers to Pay Out $701 Million from December, January Floods

Jan 31 2014 // The insured bill for the damage caused by the storms and flooding over the Christmas 2013 and New Year period looks set to cost £426 million [$701 million], according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The ABI...

Prior Experience Heightens Perceptions of Disaster Risks

Jan 31 2014 // People who have experienced a disaster such as an earthquake, flood, or terrorist attack have a heightened perception of the risks posed by these and, in some cases, unrelated risks, according to a study involving 1,045...

Senate Passes Flood Insurance Delay, Agent Licensing Bill

Jan 30 2014 // The Senate passed a bill Thursday to delay certain flood insurance rate hikes and create a national registry for licensing insurance agents by a vote of 67-32. (See how senators voted at end of story.) The bill delays the...

N.J. Commissioner Offers Insurance Purchasing Tips for Small Businesses

Jan 30 2014 // Making the right insurance choices can have significant impact on the small business owner’s operation costs. With that in mind, New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Ken Kobylowski offered some...

Senate Begins Amending Bill to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Increases

Jan 30 2014 // The Senate has begun adopting amendments to the bill (S.1926) that seeks to delay flood insurance premium increases called for under the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. The Senate bill would halt premium...

Homeowners of America Insurance Co. Offering Flood Coverage in Texas

Jan 29 2014 // Homeowners of America Insurance Co. (HOAIC), a Texas-based property and casualty insurance company, is expanding its products to offer flood insurance to its policyholders in Texas. Homeowners of America flood insurance...

Why Obama Should Support Delaying Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Hikes: Opinion

Jan 28 2014 // The following is an opinion from Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc. and the Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance, regarding the White House’s opposition to the Homeowner Flood Insurance...

White House Balks at Flood Insurance Delay, Agent Licensing Bill

Jan 28 2014 // The Obama Administration has problems with the Senate bill that would delay flood insurance premium increases and create an agent licensing registry. The bill, S.1926, was cleared for debate on a procedural vote, 86-13,...