Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
RiskMeter Adds New Storm Surge Report to Online Hazard Lookup
Apr 6 2007 // CDS Business Mapping, LLC, which develops online hazard mapping, has added a new storm surge report to its RiskMeter Online real-time, natural hazard risk report service. The RiskMeter is used by underwriters and agents to...
Lloyd’s 360 Report Examines Potential Effects of ‘Rapid Climate Change’
Apr 6 2007 // Lloyd’s third “360 report” does for the insurance industry what the IPCC report, see previous article, does for the whole world. It focuses attention on global warming/climate change in a way that cannot...
IPCC Report Confirms Widespread Impact of Global Warming
Apr 6 2007 // The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its “Fourth Assessment of Working Group II,” which updates past studies and sets forth the “current scientific understanding of impacts of...
Levees Protecting West Sacramento Need $8.5 Million in Repairs
Apr 5 2007 // Two levees protecting about 40,000 Central California residents from potentially catastrophic flooding need $8.5 million worth of repairs, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The corps — which finished the...
Maryland Assembly OKs Measure to Shield Agents from Notice Liability
Apr 4 2007 // Maryland insurance agents are applauding the General Assembly for relieving them of liability in the delivery of notices about flood and homeowners insurance. The Senate and House of Delegates unanimously passed companion...
Corps to Bolster New Orleans Floodwalls
Apr 4 2007 // The steel sheet piles anchoring 450 feet of floodwalls on the 17th Street Canal in New Orleans are too close to underground sand, so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will bolster them with up to six feet of rock and...
Corps Finds Much of Miles City, Mont., in 100-Year Flood Plain
Apr 4 2007 // New federal maps identifying the flood hazard here show much more of Miles City, Mont., is in the 100-year flood plain than do the maps being replaced. The draft maps have three-fourths of the city in the 100-year plain,...
Bipartisan Flood Insurance ‘Modernization’ Bill Boosts Borrowing, Maximum Limits
Mar 27 2007 // U.S. Reps. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., and Barney Frank, D-Mass., introduced bipartisan legislation to revamp the National Flood Insurance Program that boosts the program’s borrowing authority to $21.5 billion, increases...
Ky., Federal Officials to Address National Flood Insurance Questions
Mar 19 2007 // Specific information about national flood insurance will be available as representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, staff members from the Environmental and Public...
Fall 2008 Trial Set for New Orleans Navigation Channel Suit
Mar 19 2007 // A federal judge in Louisiana has set a trial date for late 2008 to hear a lawsuit over a navigation channel built and operated by the Army Corps of Engineers that contributed to the flooding of St. Bernard Parish and New...
Minn. Governor Promises Financial Help for Flood Ravaged Town
Mar 19 2007 // Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty says the state should consider a plan that would provide money for residents of the western Minnesota town that did not have flood insurance. Pawlenty toured areas of town that were affected...
National Guard Helps Vermont with Potential Flood Issue
Mar 13 2007 // Gov. Jim Douglas authorized the mobilization of a National Guard task force to assist the City of Montpelier, Vt. with preparations for a potential flood. It is estimated that the soldiers, working with the specially...
Hurricane Rita’s Claims Total $5.8B in Texas and Louisiana
Mar 6 2007 // The final tally for the cost of claims from Hurricane Rita in both Louisiana and Texas came to $5.8 billion. Hurricane Rita’s 120 mile per hour winds plowed into the Texas/Louisiana border on Sept. 24, 2005, one...
Grant Money at Stake as Biloxi Votes on Elevation Requirement
Feb 28 2007 // The Biloxi, Miss. City Council was scheduled to vote this week on whether to adopt FEMA’s recommended elevation requirements for buildings, which is one requirement for a community the participate in the National...
Flooding hazard alert: Melting ice and snow increases risk
Feb 26 2007 // We all know that catastrophes come in all forms and shapes, not just as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and mudslides. In light of the recent devastating winter ice and snow storms that crossed the Midwest and then moved to...
Resetting State Farm’s Katrina punitive damages
Feb 26 2007 // At the trial of this cause of action, this Court submitted instructions to the jury for it to determine whether punitive damages should be awarded and, if so, in what amount. After deliberating, the jury returned a verdict...
Katrina lawsuits: Are the winds of fortune changing for insurers?
Feb 26 2007 // In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when it became apparent that property losses would total billions of dollars, the insurance industry was understandably concerned that courts in Mississippi and Louisiana...
FEMA map puts El Paso neighborhoods in flood zone
Feb 26 2007 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing a new map of El Paso designating much of the city as a flood plain, a spokeswoman said, which would push thousands of homeowners with mortgages into buying flood...
FEMA tripling Calif. San Joaquin River Flood Plain
Feb 26 2007 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to triple the size of California’s San Joaquin River flood plain on maps, which could limit development and force more homeowners to buy flood insurance. FEMA plans to...
Agents welcome windstorm debate; insurers warn against subsidies
Feb 26 2007 // The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (the Big “I”) says the debate over windstorm coverage is crucial for consumers and independent agents and brokers in many regions around the...
