Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Disasters Affected 8% of U.S. Population in 2017, FEMA Notes in Review of Historic Year
Jan 3 2018 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supported 59 major disaster declarations and 16 emergency declarations in 2017, a year during which unprecedented disasters affected more than 25 million Americans, almost...
Florida Could Be Close to a Real Estate Reckoning
Jan 2 2018 // Ross Hancock sold his four-bedroom house in Coral Gables, a city of pastel luxury at the edge of Miami, because he was worried that sea-level rise would eventually hurt his property’s value. He and his wife, Darlene,...
Top Insurance Journal National Stories of 2017
Dec 29 2017 // It wouldn’t feel right to close out the year without looking back at the most popular stories on Insurance Journal during the past 12 months. Here are the national stories that attracted the most readers in 2017,...
Building for Climate Change: Miami’s High-Net Worth High-Rises as a Model
Dec 28 2017 // The Monad Terrace—a 59-unit Miami Beach luxury condominium—hasn’t been built yet, but its salesroom is up and running. Set on the ground floor of an office building a few blocks from the Monad’s bayfront...
Trump Hotel, EPA Building Among Federal Properties in Flood Zones
Dec 19 2017 // The worst hurricane season in memory has spurred President Donald Trump to consider new ways to prod private homeowners to move out of flood plains. But many of the federal government’s own buildings are also at risk...
Texas’ Use of Federal Harvey Funds Clouded by Lack of Transparency
Dec 18 2017 // Texas has been awarded billions in federal aid to help recover from Hurricane Harvey and the devastating flooding that followed, but it’s unclear how the state is spending its share of the money. State records...
Developer Wants to Build New Housing Project in Houston Flood Plain
Dec 18 2017 // A housing developer is hoping to win approval from Houston officials to put a 151-acre project on a former golf course where the city and Harris County have spent millions of dollars to buy out homeowners whose properties...
Deadline for Louisiana Flood Insurance Proof of Loss Is Dec. 31
Dec 14 2017 // The end of the year deadline for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders affected by the flooding in August 2016 of South Louisiana is fast approaching. After six extensions, the deadline for the filing of...
Special Reuters Report: The High Cost of Building in High Flood Risk Areas
Dec 12 2017 // When Hurricane Harvey sent two feet of water rolling into this small community about 35 miles north of Houston, Alfredo Becerra had to flee his modest 1,500-square-foot house. Muddy floodwater submerged the furniture and...
Economist: Hurricane Harvey’s Impact Will Guide Future Development in Houston
Dec 11 2017 // A Houston business group said on Dec. 8 that Hurricane Harvey’s biggest long-term impact on the nation’s fourth-largest city likely will be on where and how new homes and structures are built. The results of...
Bismarck, North Dakota, Levee Won’t Protect Some Homes from Flooding
Dec 11 2017 // A $4 million flood protection project in Bismarck set for next year will affect nearly two dozen properties that won’t be protected by the levee that’s being built. The Burleigh County Water Resource...
Vietnam Suffers Rare $1 Billion Natural Catastrophe Loss: Aon Benfield Report
Dec 11 2017 // Typhoon Damrey made landfall in Vietnam during November as a Category 2 strength storm, bringing estimated economic damages of VND22.1 trillion (US$1.0 billion) – a rare billion-dollar event for the country, according to...
Harvey-Related Woes Linger on Some Texas Farms
Dec 11 2017 // For days after Hurricane Harvey flooded her Sour Lake, Texas, neighborhood, Deanna Coburn’s farm was silent, without its usual chorus of bleating goats and crowing roosters. The Beaumont Enterprise reports her...
Tribe in New Mexico Requesting Federal Disaster Declaration for Flooding
Dec 11 2017 // New Mexico’s congressional delegation is asking the federal government for help as a Native American community in the state is recovering from the effects of severe weather and flooding. The delegation says a storm...
Prospect General Expands Admitted Flood Product into Oregon
Dec 8 2017 // Prospect General Insurance Agency has expanded Flood Guard, its admitted residential flood insurance product, into Oregon. Flood Guard provides residential flood coverage and is an alternative to the National Flood...
Texas’ Harris County OKs Post-Harvey Flood Construction Rules
Dec 7 2017 // Officials in a Texas county devastated by Hurricane Harvey have approved new regulations on building construction in flood-prone locations, rules they touted as the nation’s toughest for a major metropolitan...
Republicans Eye Stopgap Funding to Avoid Government, Flood Insurance Shutdown
Dec 6 2017 // House Republicans are moving ahead with a plan to avoid a Saturday U.S. government shutdown by passing a two-week stopgap spending measure, overriding conservative GOP lawmakers who were pressing for a longer extension to...
29 Million Flood Risk Properties Lie Outside Official Flood Zones: CoreLogic
Dec 6 2017 // An estimated 23 percent of residential and commercial properties in the U.S. are at high or moderate risk of flooding but are outside of designated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) as identified by the Federal Emergency...
U.S. Flood Program to Collect $1 Billion in Reinsurance for Hurricane Harvey Claims
Dec 6 2017 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking to recover the full $1.042 billion of its reinsurance coverage to help pay the federal flood insurance program’s losses from Hurricane Harvey. Those paid...
Some in Congress Question Trump Flood Insurance, Disaster Aid Reforms
Dec 4 2017 // The Trump administration’s proposed $12 billion initiative to reduce future flood damage met with skepticism in Congress, as lawmakers warned against diverting emergency funding away from hurricane...
