Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Report: Florida Cities Most Vulnerable to Storm Surge
Sep 15 2015 // Four of the top eight cities most vulnerable to a major storm surge are located in Florida, according to a new report released by Karen Clark & Company (KCC). The 2015 “Most Vulnerable U.S. Cities to Storm Surge...
Why Now Is Time to Privatize Flood Insurance: a Candid Conversation with Hiscox USA CEO Walter
Sep 14 2015 // The private insurance industry is ready and anxious to take on flood risk, and politicians should reform the federal program now to take advantage of this interest, according to the U.S. executive of a leading specialty...
North Carolina Town to Challenge Federal Flood Maps
Sep 14 2015 // Officials in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., plan to challenge new federal flood plain maps in a move that could save some residents thousands of dollars in insurance premiums. The StarNews of Wilmington reports the town’s...
Japan Flooding After Record Rains Leaves 3 Dead, 23 Missing
Sep 11 2015 // Three people died and 23 were missing in floods after record rains burst the banks of two rivers in Japan in two days, public broadcaster NHK said. The Shibuigawa river in Miyagi Prefecture, an area hit by the record 2011...
Heavy Rains Cause Floods in Japan; Thousands Evacuated; Fukushima Leak
Sep 10 2015 // A city near Tokyo declared a state of emergency and ordered thousands of residents to evacuate after torrential rain caused severe flooding. The storm caused contaminated water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant to...
Flood Zone Expansion Could Raise Insurance Costs for Some Coloradans
Sep 8 2015 // New research shows floods like the one that ransacked northern Colorado two years ago, killing 10 people, might be more common than previously thought _ and that could require more homeowners to get flood insurance and...
Pittsburgh’s $375K Settlement Offer Leaves Chrysler Alone in Flash-Flood Suit
Sep 4 2015 // The city of Pittsburgh’s recent decision to pay $375,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by families of four people killed in flash flooding leaves Chrysler as the remaining defendant. The Pennsylvania Department of...
Local Conn. Businesses Are Told to Plan Ahead, Prepare for Next Big Storm
Sep 3 2015 // A Category 3 hurricane with forces not seen in Eastern Connecticut for nearly 100 years barrels into the mouth of the Connecticut River. Roads are blocked by downed trees and utility lines. Power is expected to be out for...
Homes, Vehicles Flooded in Sioux Falls
Aug 31 2015 // More than half a foot of rain fell in parts of Sioux Falls, S.D., leading to flash flooding that inundated basements, stranded dozens of motorists and cut electricity to thousands of homes. Mayor Mike Huether said...
Louisiana’s Bayou Chene to Get Permanent Flood Control Structure
Aug 27 2015 // Funds from the settlement over BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 will be used to construct a permanent flood control structure in Bayou Chene. The Courier reports the structure will protect St. Mary and several...
Plagued by Drought, California Prepares For El Niño Storms
Aug 27 2015 // While drought-plagued California is eager for rain, the forecast of a potentially Godzilla-like El Niño event has communities clearing out debris basins, urging residents to stock up on emergency supplies and even talking...
10 Years Post-Katrina New Orleans Rises but Gaps Remain
Aug 25 2015 // As people search for words to describe New Orleans’ recovery a decade after Hurricane Katrina, they sometimes use words verging on the Biblical — an economic and cultural resurrection, a rising from the...
New FEMA Maps for Central Texas Expand Flood Plains
Aug 24 2015 // Hundreds of Central Texas residents could be forced to buy flood insurance or face stricter building regulations for new structures nearly three months after deadly flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has...
4 Years After Irene, Long-Term Rebuilding Projects Nearing End in Vermont
Aug 24 2015 // The first new building at the still under-reconstruction Vermont State office complex in Waterbury is now occupied by state employees and more are due back before the end of the year. Down Main Street, a new town office...
8 Ways Katrina Changed Commercial Property Insurance
Aug 21 2015 // Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans 10 years ago, is responsible for a number of changes in the commercial property insurance market. According to Rick Miller, U.S. property practice leader at Aon Risk...
Beyond Katrina: Lessons in Mitigation, Insurance and Community
Aug 21 2015 // Among the lessons to be learned from Hurricane Katrina are that communities and all stakeholders should prioritize flooding as the greatest risk, devote more resources to preventive measures rather than post-event disaster...
Florida Insurance Chief Calls on NFIP to Hand Over Its Data
Aug 20 2015 // In his ongoing efforts to foster a competitive private flood insurance market in Florida, state Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, recently requested help from the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation to obtain...
10 Years After Katrina, Coastal Cities Face Greater Flood Risk: RMS
Aug 19 2015 // A decade after Hurricane Katrina caused $41 billion in property/casualty insurance losses, the most expensive catastrophe for the global insurance industry, rising sea levels are driving up expected economic and insurance...
Long, Bruce Join Cunningham Lindsey in Dallas
Aug 18 2015 // Dallas-based global loss adjusting and risk management services company Cunningham Lindsey has added Denise Long as vice president of Catastrophe Operations and Michael Bruce as director of Flood Operations. Long will...
Florida Commissioner McCarty Says NFIP Rates May Be Unfairly Discriminatory
Aug 18 2015 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said on Aug. 14 that the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) rates for Florida may be “unfairly discriminatory” and that his office will ask for the...
