Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Developers’ Use of Fill for Flood Resilience Scrutinized Post-Harvey
Apr 11 2018 // Texas home developers’ practice of using dirt to raise homes above a flood plain is drawing increased scrutiny as experts question flood resilience measures after Hurricane Harvey. Some experts argued using dirt, or...
Minot, North Dakota, Shelves Flood Resilience Project
Apr 9 2018 // A project meant to provide affordable housing for Minot, North Dakota, residents displaced by the 2011 Souris River flood or buyouts has been shelved. The City Council has rejected developer proposals and set the idea...
Houston-Area Residents Sue Engineering Firm Over Harvey Flooding
Apr 9 2018 // Hundreds of residents in Fort Bend County, Texas, have sued an engineering company alleging that it was negligent in the design of a stormwater management system for a community that flooded during Hurricane Harvey. The...
$1.2B in Federal Flood Control Funds Going to Louisiana
Apr 9 2018 // Louisiana is set to receive $1.2 billion in grant funding from the federal government for flood control and prevention projects. Gov. John Bel Edwards and U.S. Rep. Garret Graves announced the funding on April 5. The...
Study: Mississippi River Flood Control Work Likely Worsened Downstream Flooding
Apr 6 2018 // Flood control engineering on the Mississippi River and its tributaries has likely made floods worse in Mississippi and Louisiana, researchers say. Using 500 years of data from tree rings and from sediment in oxbow lakes...
City Council Approves Changes to Houston’s Floodplain Regulations
Apr 5 2018 // More than seven months after Hurricane Harvey’s destructive floods damaged hundreds of thousands of homes across a wide swath of southeast Texas, the Houston City Council on April 4 approved the first overhaul to...
FEMA to Issue First Catastrophe Bond for Flood Insurance Program
Apr 5 2018 // In another step shifting risk to private markets, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it intends to secure additional reinsurance for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through issuance of a...
Lawsuits over Arkema Chemical Disaster in Texas Add Up
Apr 3 2018 // Note: This story originally ran in The Texas Tribune. Most of the houses along Crosby Eastgate Road in Southeast Texas and its neighboring streets are one-story outfits on sprawling green lots. In their driveways are spare...
Federal Flood Insurance Average Premium to Rise 8%
Apr 2 2018 // A typical premium charged by the National Flood Insurance Program is slated to rise about eight percent in the coming year, with the estimated average premium going from $866 to $935. When various surcharges are added, the...
Today’s Hot Markets: Buyers Hungry For EPLI, Cyber and More
Apr 2 2018 // Insurance Journal examined industries experiencing changes, challenges, expansions and growth in the past year. Here are five industry sectors and insurance markets that could offer opportunities for agents and brokers in...
Texas’ Galveston County Looking to Elevate 200 Flood-Prone Homes
Mar 29 2018 // Preliminary estimates indicate that a hurricane recovery program in southeast Texas could elevate as many as 200 homes that have been repeatedly flooded. The Daily News reports that Galveston County commissioners received...
More than $1B Sought by Houston-Area Leaders for Flood Control
Mar 29 2018 // Officials in the Texas county hardest hit by Hurricane Harvey want to ask voters to approve up to $2 billion in bonds to fund critical flood-control projects, but worried Tuesday about potential roadblocks. Harris County,...
Flooding of East Coast Roads from High Tides Becoming Routine, Costly
Mar 29 2018 // High tide floods, or so-called “nuisance flooding,” that happen along shore roadways during seasonal high tides or minor wind events are occurring far more frequently than ever before. Researchers at the...
A Look at Risk. Are New Risks Really New?
Mar 28 2018 // “The more it changes, the more it’s the same thing.” Alphonse Kerr “It’s like deja-vu, all over again.” Yogi Berra The world is undergoing a pace of change unlike anything that...
Fate of Houston Flood-Control Projects Unclear 7 Months After Harvey
Mar 27 2018 // Large-scale projects long considered essential to easing Houston’s flooding woes went to the top of the area’s to-do list after Hurricane Harvey inundated large swaths of the nation’s fourth-largest...
Toxic Impact of Hurricane Harvey Deeper than Public Told
Mar 26 2018 // A toxic onslaught from the nation’s petrochemical hub was largely overshadowed by the record-shattering deluge of Hurricane Harvey as residents and first responders struggled to save lives and property. More than a...
Federal Flood Insurance Renewed Through July But Reforms Stall
Mar 25 2018 // Advocates who have been pushing for renewal of the U.S. federal flood insurance programs in the wake of last year’s devastating hurricanes and floods praised Congress for extending the program through July 31. But...
Houston Considering New Floodplain Rules after Harvey
Mar 23 2018 // More than 80 percent of homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey in Houston’s floodplains could’ve been spared if they were at the higher elevation now being proposed by the mayor, according to a new report. The...
Why Storm-Prone States Continue to Balk at Tough Building Codes
Mar 19 2018 // The showdown in the Florida statehouse last year had all the drama of a knock-down political brawl: Powerful industries clashing. Warnings of death and destruction. And a surprise last-minute vote, delivering a sweeping...
Private Flood Insurance Market Is Getting Bigger, More Competitive, Less Profitable
Mar 18 2018 // The U.S. market for privately written flood insurance grew by 51.2 percent last year, with state-level markets growing both more competitive and less profitable, according to 2017 statutory insurance filings compiled by...
