Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
Washington Warns Green Valley Residents about Flood Insurance
Dec 4 2009 // With a recent check showing that fewer than 1 in 4 of the buildings in the Green River flood plain have federal flood insurance, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is strongly urging more owners and renters to buy...
Hawaii Flood Damage Worst in Hanalei
Nov 25 2009 // The Hanalei community on Kauai was hit with 13 inches of rain in 24 hours last week, and bore the brunt of the storm’s flood damage. County officials say it will cost $500,000 to repair a pipeline that brings water...
Northwest England Hit by Floods; Bridges Collapse; AIR Analysis
Nov 23 2009 // A series of violent storms struck the west coast of England, beginning last Thursday. Cumbria, the County just below the Scottish border, was the most severely affected area, where heavy rain caused extensive flooding in a...
Katrina MRGO Ruling Could Bring New Deluge of Lawsuits
Nov 23 2009 // A landmark court ruling blaming the Army Corps of Engineers’ “monumental negligence” for some of the worst flooding from Hurricane Katrina could lead to a new deluge: billions of dollars in legal action...
UPDATE: RMS Gives Preliminary Loss Estimates from UK Floods
Nov 23 2009 // Risk Management Solutions has issued a bulletin that presents several possibilities concerning the economic losses from the floods, which have caused extensive damage in northwest England [See IJ web site –...
Federal Judge Holds Corps Responsible in Katrina Flooding Case
Nov 19 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...
Flood-Prone Missouri Town Ready to Launch Mitigation Plan
Nov 18 2009 // Clarksville, Mo., is moving ahead with what Mayor Jo Anne Smiley calls the “monumental task” of never again having to worry about the Mississippi River ruining businesses and disrupting lives in this town of...
AIR Analyzes UK Storm
Nov 17 2009 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide described the storm, which struck Southern England and Wales last Friday night, November 13, as the “strongest storm of the season.” Winds gusting up to 160...
Downstream Towns in Midwest Worried About Red River Diversion
Nov 17 2009 // Residents living downstream from Fargo, N.D., and neighboring Moorhead, Minn., along the Red River fear their towns would be sacrificed in a diversion plan to save the two larger cities from chronic flooding. Backers of...
Flooded Georgia Homeowners Seek Buyouts from Cobb County
Nov 15 2009 // Many Cobb County homeowners in Georgia say they’d like the county to buy their flood-damaged homes, but a county official says it’s impossible to accommodate all of them. About 300 people gathered at a...
