Latest Flood Headlines

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

More Upstate New York Properties at Risk in Floods

Feb 1 2010 // Federal officials say that about 6,500 more properties in Broome Count, New York than originally believed are vulnerable to floods like one that devastated parts of the region in 2006. Updated flood maps released Thursday...

Hurricane Ike Claims Total Nearly $12B in Texas

Jan 29 2010 // Hurricane Ike, which struck Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, has proved to be the costliest weather catastrophe in Texas history by a large margin. The storm racked up nearly $12 billion in windstorm and flood insurance claims...

ABI Estimates November UK Flood Losses Exceed $322 Million

Jan 26 2010 // A report from the Association of British Insurers estimates that the floods in Cumbria in the northwestern part of England and parts of Southern Scotland in November have exceeded £200 million ($322 million) [See IJ...

Midwest Cities Say New FEMA Flood Maps Are Full of Errors

Jan 25 2010 // More than a year and a half after a massive flood left a huge swath of eastern Iowa underwater, the tiny farming community of Oakville is clinging to survival. Many of the town’s 400-or-so residents moved on after...

Counties with Levees Are Some of the Nation’s Most Economically Sound, Report Says

Jan 25 2010 // Hundreds of levees around the United States protect vulnerable areas and tens of millions of people from potentially devastating floods. Yet hardly anyone gives them a second thought until one is breached. The most glaring...

Report: Counties with Levees Are Among the Nation’s Most Economically Sound

Jan 24 2010 // Flooding Costs Are Outweighed by Regional Economic Benefits There are hundreds of levees around the United States that protect vulnerable areas and tens of millions of people from potentially devastating floods each year....

Report: Counties with Levees Are Among the Nation’s Most Economically Sound

Jan 24 2010 // Flooding Costs Are Outweighed by Regional Economic Benefits Hundreds of levees around the United States protect vulnerable areas and tens of millions of people from potentially devastating floods each year. Yet hardly...

California Still On Alert for Flooding, Potential Mudslides

Jan 22 2010 // Parts of California continue to face flood watch and flood warnings, after a fifth day of storms, according to the National Weather Service. In Southern Califiornia, more than 1,000 homes were already under evacuation...

Entergy, Insurers File Second Suit Against Corps Over Katrina Flooding

Jan 19 2010 // Entergy Corp. has filed a second suit against the Army Corps of Engineers over flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina, leaving behind hundreds of millions of dollars to power systems and higher rates for hundreds of...

Mississippi’s Jackson County Readying to Buy Flood Prone Properties

Jan 14 2010 // A program to buy oft-flooded properties in Jackson County, Mississippi may be moving forward after years of delays. After Hurricanes Georges in 1998 and Katrina in 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and...

Sen. Durbin: FEMA Delaying Flood Insurance Maps in Illinois

Jan 6 2010 // Property owners in three southwestern Illinois counties who worry they’ll have to get sharply higher flood insurance once new Mississippi River flood maps are drawn are getting a bit of a reprieve. Sen. Richard...

Flooded Australian Regions Declared Disaster Zones

Jan 5 2010 // Authorities declared two flooded farming regions in southwestern Australia natural disaster zones Monday as residents in one town nervously watched a rising river in hopes that it wouldn’t break its levees. Parts of...

Wet, Cool Year in Arkansas; Fewer Tornadoes Than ’08

Jan 5 2010 // First there was the ice that blanketed the northern third of Arkansas. Then the tornado that ripped through Mena. Next came rain – record-breaking amounts of it in 15 Arkansas cities and areas. Long, soaking rains...

State Leaders in Iowa Look to Cedar Falls for Flood Law Ideas

Jan 5 2010 // After devastating floods in 2008, Cedar Falls, Iowa, enacted a new flood plain ordinance. And state officials are paying attention. State Sen. Rob Hogg says what Cedar Falls has done shows great foresight. Hogg is part of...

Flood Insurance Getting Cheaper in Lincoln, Nebraska

Jan 4 2010 // City officials in Lincoln, Neb., say an upgrade in Lincoln’s rating will save property owners more money on their flood insurance. A news release from the office of Mayor Chris Beutler says the city rating went from...

17 More Iowa Homeowners Accept Flood Damage Buyouts

Dec 28 2009 // More Cedar Rapids homeowners are accepting buyout offers for their flood-damaged properties. Officials say 17 more homeowners have signed offers to have the city buy their properties, which were heavily damaged in the...

Cedar Falls, Iowa, Expands Flood Insurance Requirements

Dec 16 2009 // The city of Cedar Falls, Iowa, has approved a new ordinance expanding the number of residents who have to get flood insurance. The approved ordinance takes effect Jan. 1. It says that everyone living in the 500-year flood...

National Flood Insurance Program to Expire Dec. 18

Dec 16 2009 // Time is running out once again for the National Flood Insurance Program, which is set to expire on Dec. 18. Congress passed a short-term extension in September that moved the expiration deadline for NFIP to Dec. 18, 2009....

Federal Judge Holds Corps Responsible in Katrina Flooding Case

Dec 6 2009 // A federal judge in Louisiana has ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ failure to properly maintain and operate the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) was a substantial cause for the flooding of part of the...

Floods in the U.K.; Lloyd’s Exchange Gets Rolling; Willis in Deal for Gras Savoye

Dec 6 2009 // A series of violent storms struck the west coast of England, beginning Nov. 19. Cumbria, the county just below the Scottish border, was the most severely affected area, where heavy rain caused extensive flooding in a...