Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Missouri Proposal Would Limit Local Tax Breaks for Flood Zone Development
Apr 7 2019 // With floodwaters again inundating parts of Missouri, the state Senate has backed legislation that could limit local tax breaks offered for new developments in flood plains. A bill given initial approval would prohibit new...
Midwest States Want More Control Over Missouri River After Floods
Apr 5 2019 // Three Midwestern Republican governors of states ravaged by recent flooding are demanding more authority over management of the Missouri River system. Following a meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iowa Gov. Kim...
New Texas Homeowners Policy From The Woodlands Insurance Includes Flood Coverage
Apr 4 2019 // The Woodlands Insurance Co. (TWICO), located in The Woodlands, Texas, has launched a Texas homeowners policy that will include flood insurance to all qualifying households. With a tiered offering of Twico Prime, Twico...
Officials Open Mississippi Floodgate to Handle River Flooding
Apr 4 2019 // Officials have finally pulled the plug to allow an unusual flood trapped inside a levee system in Mississippi to drain, but it could be weeks before waters fully recede. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a floodgate...
California Dam’s Spillway Gets First Use Since 2017 Flooding Crisis
Apr 3 2019 // Officials at the nation’s tallest dam unleashed water down a rebuilt spillway Tuesday for the first time since it crumbled two years ago and drove hundreds of thousands of California residents from their homes over...
Texas Insurance Commissioner to Industry: Watch Your Language!
Apr 3 2019 // Note: This is the second article in a three-part series resulting from a conversation with Texas Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan. Texas’ chief insurance regulator wants the insurance industry to clean up its...
Louisiana Pledges $80M for Bayou Chene Floodgate
Apr 3 2019 // Residents in six southeastern Louisiana parishes will get some relief from backwater flooding thanks to a new floodgate. Gov. John Bel Edwards announced this week that the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration...
Omaha, Nebraska, Officials Reviewing Flood-Control Measures
Apr 2 2019 // Officials in the Omaha, Nebraska, area are reevaluating the city’s flood-control measures, shortly after heavy rains caused dozens of counties and cities in the state to declare a state of emergency. A flash flood...
Government Relief Bypasses Farmers Who Lost Stored Crops in Floods
Apr 2 2019 // The Black Hawk military helicopter flew over Iowa, giving a senior U.S. agriculture official and U.S. senator an eyeful of the flood damage below, where yellow corn from ruptured metal silos spilled out into the muddy...
Cabrillo Coastal Launches Flood Endorsement for South Carolina Homeowners
Apr 2 2019 // Cabrillo Coastal General Insurance Agency has launched a flood endorsement for new or existing Safe Harbor Homeowners policies in South Carolina. The coverage, according to Cabrillo, was built from a different rating...
1 Million Acres of Midwest Farmlands Flooded as Corn Planting Deadlines Approach
Apr 1 2019 // At least 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of U.S. farmland were flooded after the “bomb cyclone” storm left wide swaths of nine major grain producing states under water this month, satellite data analyzed by...
New Flood Insurance Rule from Bank Regulators a Win for Consumers, Agents and Brokers
Apr 1 2019 // If Implemented Wisely, Flood-Exposed Properties Could Benefit from Expanded Market While lawmakers continue their struggle to agree on the long-term reauthorization of the financially burdensome National Flood Insurance...
How Drones and Aerial Imagery Use Rose to New Heights Post 2018 Catastrophes
Apr 1 2019 // The importance of drones and aerial imagery rose to a new level in the wake of 2018 natural catastrophes as insurers made them an integral part of their disaster recovery procedures, particularly following the hurricanes...
A Mix of Flood Insurance Reforms
Apr 1 2019 // Conservation, CarFax-Like Disclosure, Means-Test for Rates Up for Discussion The federal flood insurance program has a knack for inspiring ideas from reformers across the political spectrum on how to improve government. If...
Mozambique City of Beira Tried to Battle Climate Change – Then Cyclone Idai Hit
Mar 29 2019 // Long before Cyclone Idai roared in and tore apart Mozambique’s seaside city of Beira, the mayor dreamed of protecting his people from climate change. It would be a huge challenge. Large parts of the city of 500,000...
Nebraska Alcohol Retailers Told to Destroy Inventory Touched by Flood
Mar 28 2019 // Nebraska retailers who were hoping to salvage alcohol that was touched by floodwaters are out of luck. The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission said that stores must destroy any alcohol in containers that came into physical...
How One Company, AT&T, Is Using Models to Prepare for Natural Disaster Costs
Mar 28 2019 // By 2050, residents of southern Florida could become familiar with storms borne on 90-mph winds. Water levels during floods will rise by an average of 5 percent across the Southeast. And it will not be out of the ordinary...
In ‘Trump Country’ Farm Belt, Flooding Woes Add to Trade War Stress
Mar 26 2019 // Nebraska grain farmer Ryan Ueberrhein was barely breaking even after the U.S.-China trade war pushed prices for his soybean crop to a decade low. Then the nearby Elkhorn River burst its banks as flooding swept across the...
Tropical Cyclone Idai Destroyed More Than $1B of Southern Africa Infrastructure: UN
Mar 26 2019 // A cyclone that tore across southern Africa this month may have destroyed more than $1 billion of infrastructure, the United Nations said, as the death toll from the storm climbed to more than 700. After devastating...
Tennessee Gov Requests Federal Aid for Flood Damage
Mar 26 2019 // Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is asking President Donald Trump’s administration to make federal assistance available for government efforts to address recent flooding and storms, citing a $151.3 million impact through...
