Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hurricanes Milton and Helene Expose Limits of US Flood Maps
Oct 9 2024 // Even before the second megastorm in as many weeks brings devastating floodwaters to the Southeast US, it’s already clear that federal flood-risk maps underpinning decisions by millions of American homeowners and...
As Milton Nears, Flood-Proof Fences Will Face a Major Test in Tampa
Oct 8 2024 // For the second time in two weeks, Tampa General Hospital is getting ready to keep water at bay. Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall Wednesday and will test the hospital’s flood barrier. It takes dozens of...
Report Says Growth of Private Flood Insurance Has Stagnated. Neptune Disagrees
Oct 8 2024 // The head of one of the largest private flood insurance writers this week questioned an AM Best report that said private flood companies are failing to make significant inroads in America’s troubled flood...
Nation’s Flood Insurance Program Is Making More Repeat Payouts
Oct 7 2024 // When Hurricane Helene barreled ashore last week, it caused devastating flooding across the southeastern U.S., including in the Shore Acres area of St. Petersburg, Florida. The neighborhood saw 6 feet of storm surge, which...
How Flood Risk Is Driving an Insurance Protection Gap in the US
Oct 7 2024 // It is likely that you have read recent headlines sounding the alarm over a potentially uninsurable future. The ongoing threat of more frequent and damaging extreme weather is making it increasingly difficult for homeowners...
Helene’s Flooding a Reminder of Appalachia’s Growing Risk From Violent Storms
Oct 4 2024 // HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Helene dumped trillions of gallons of water hundreds of miles inland, devastating communities nestled in mountains far from the threat of storm surge or sea level rise. But that...
Tennessee Investigating Plastics Factory Where Helene Flooding Killed 11 Workers
Oct 3 2024 // A Tennessee plastics factory kept workers going until it was too late to evacuate before Hurricane Helene flooding swamped the building, employees have said. Now, the company is likely facing liability lawsuits and...
American Dams Weren’t Built for Today’s Climate-Charged Rain and Floods
Oct 3 2024 // As flooding hammered Appalachia in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, residents became intimately familiar with a new norm in the US’s post-storm script: dams at imminent risk of failing. Officials last week said...
1 in 10 Tri-State Properties at High Flood Risk: New York Fed
Oct 3 2024 // Research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds that nearly one million houses and multifamily buildings in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut—one in 10 properties in the tri-state area—are at high risk of...
Flooded Farms, Fouled Rivers, Dozens Dead: Helene’s Rising Toll
Oct 2 2024 // As historic floodwaters unleashed by Hurricane Helene recede across the US Southeast, the region faces a humanitarian, economic and ecological crisis of staggering scope, with effects likely to last years. Cotton crops on...
Flooded Farms, Fouled Rivers, Dozens Dead: Helene’s Rising Toll
Oct 2 2024 // As historic floodwaters unleashed by Hurricane Helene recede across the US Southeast, the region faces a humanitarian, economic and ecological crisis of staggering scope, with effects likely to last years. Cotton crops on...
Insured Losses from Central European Floods Range From US$2.2B to US$3.4B: Verisk
Oct 2 2024 // Insured industry losses from the flooding in the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria in September 2024 will range from €2 billion (US$2.2 billion) to €3 billion (US$3.4 billion), according to Verisk, the data analytics...
Biden Approves Disaster Declaration for Vermont for Late July Flooding
Sep 30 2024 // President Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for the severe flooding that hit northeastern Vermont in late July. The declaration makes federal funding available to help communities and individuals in...
Insured Losses Top $5B With Heavy Flooding but Few Covered by Flood Insurance
Sep 30 2024 // Estimates of insured losses from Hurricane Helene continue to range around $5 billion, not including flood insurance losses, as the death toll in the Southeast continued to rise, reaching 107 by Monday morning. In Florida,...
Helene Dumps Rain on Millions of US Homes That Lack Flood Insurance
Sep 30 2024 // On Thursday night Helene crashed into Florida’s coast as a Category 4 hurricane. The giant storm with 140-mile-per-hour winds made landfall close to where Hurricane Debby hit in August and where Idalia struck just...
Early Lessons From Helene Show Catastrophes Are Here to Stay, Flood Insurance Vital
Sep 29 2024 // Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday, Sept. 26, in the Florida Big Bend, a sparsely-populated 150-mile coastal stretch from Apalachee Bay, south of Tallahassee, to Waccasassa Bay in the south. All told, the...
Connecticut Flood Recovery Centers for Small Businesses Now Open
Sep 27 2024 // Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has opened two business recovery centers that are now providing in-person assistance to businesses applying for federal disaster...
Should Citizens Do More to Assist With Coming Flood Claims in Florida? Can it?
Sep 25 2024 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s largest insurer, has suspended policy binding ahead of predicted Hurricane Helene, and a board member asked if the carrier could do more to help policyholders manage flood...
Central European Insurers’ Financial Strength to Remain Solid Despite Severe Floods
Sep 25 2024 // The heavy rains and severe floods of Storm Boris, which inundated Central and Eastern Europe during the second week in September, will be the most severe flood event in about a decade, carrying an insurance price tag of an...
Climate Change Made Europe’s Deadly Floods Worse and More Likely
Sep 25 2024 // Record rainfall leading to flooding that killed 24 people in Europe earlier in September was twice as likely due to manmade climate change, a study has found. The flooding took place across central Europe after Storm Boris...
