Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Investors Betting Against U.S. Mortgage Market Are Banking on Mispriced Flood Risk
Oct 3 2019 // David Burt helped two of the protagonists of Michael Lewis’ book The Big Short bet against the U.S. mortgage market in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. Now he’s betting against the market again, but...
Imelda-Impacted Texans Still Don’t Know if They Qualify for FEMA Aid
Oct 1 2019 // Two state officials are optimistic that southeast Texans whose homes were flooded by Tropical Storm Imelda will qualify for federal aid. And since it could be weeks before the destruction is fully inventoried, many leaders...
Trump Signs Stopgap Funding for Government That Includes Flood Program
Sep 29 2019 // President Donald Trump has signed a continuing resolution that will avoid a federal government shutdown by funding the government at current levels until Nov. 21. The Republican-led Senate voted 82-15 in favor the...
U.S. Private Flood Insurance: The Journey to Build a New Market
Sep 27 2019 // Not long ago, private flood insurance was thought to be an impossible dream in the property/casualty sector. There were numerous arguments supporting the common wisdom that a meaningful market for residential flood...
Hotels in Nebraska City Scramble to Complete Repairs After Flooding
Sep 27 2019 // It’s been over two and one-half months since July 9 floodwaters inundated south Kearney’s hotel district and forced the closure of all but 600 of Kearney’s hotel rooms. Kearney Visitors Bureau Executive...
Chubb Names Hobson, Formerly with Aon, to New Flood Insurance Post
Sep 25 2019 // Insurer Chubb announced that Louis Hobson has joined the company as senior vice president of Flood Insurance for its North America operations. In this new role, Hobson will work in conjunction with Chubb’s personal...
Hurricane Florence, A Year Later: Many North Carolinian’s Lack Resources to Recover
Sep 25 2019 // Tanika Outlaw was working as the food and beverage manager at the Doubletree Hotel in New Bern last September when Hurricane Florence began shoving feet of water into the city’s downtown area. Ultimately, the storm...
Minneapolis Federal Reserve: With Flooding Comes a Torrent of Data
Sep 24 2019 // One of the biggest problems with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood insurance program is that, nationwide, few property owners actually choose to buy into it. But that’s not the case in many...
Gulf Coast Seafood Biz Slammed by Freshwater from This Year’s Floods
Sep 23 2019 // Fresh water from Midwestern floods has killed oysters along the coasts of three states and cost Mississippi half of its blue crabs. Water that came through a Louisiana spillway killed 95% of the oysters in...
Widespread Damage, Five Deaths in Texas Linked to Imelda
Sep 23 2019 // The widespread damage brought to the Houston area by one of the wettest tropical cyclones in U.S. history came into broader view Saturday, as floodwaters receded to reveal the exhausting cleanup effort that lies ahead for...
More Than 60 Rescued from Flooding after Heavy Rains in Alabama
Sep 23 2019 // Mobile, Ala., firefighters staged more than 60 water rescues after heavy rains prompted flooding across the city. Storms that dumped more than 7 inches of rain across Mobile in a few hours left streets and parking lots...
House OKs Government Stopgap Funding That Extends Flood Insurance Until Nov. 21
Sep 22 2019 // The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives last week passed a continuing resolution to extend federal government funding through Nov. 21 and avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month. The bipartisan vote...
Re/insurers Rethink Climate Change Risks as Losses Grow from Wildfires, Floods, Hail
Sep 20 2019 // By the time David Kaisel got back from selling his flour at a farmers’ market, a wildfire in California’s Capay Valley had burnt both his tractor and the shipping container where he kept some tools. His insurer...
Marsh’s Torrent Technologies Expands Private Flood Coverage for Small Businesses
Sep 20 2019 // Torrent Technologies, a Marsh company, has launched FloodPlus Commercial – a comprehensive private market primary flood insurance offering for agents of its Write Your Own (WYO) carrier clients. Underwritten by...
Imelda Brings Flooding, Disaster Declaration to Southeast Texas
Sep 19 2019 // Flooding from Tropical Storm Imelda on Thursday left hundreds of people trapped in their homes and cars; led to water rescues, a hospital evacuation and power outages; and closed entire school districts, according to...
Improvements to Tulsa-Area Levee System Proposed
Sep 19 2019 // The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed a $160 million plan to shore up levees around Oklahoma’s second largest city that have been weakened by periodic flooding. The Corps released a feasibility study that...
Group Says FEMA’s Flood Home Buyouts Take Too Long
Sep 19 2019 // For those who want to move out of a flood zone, the wait time for a home buyout can stretch five years or more, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which analyzed nearly 30 years of data from the...
Weakened Imelda Aims Foot or More of Rain at Flood-Prone Houston
Sep 18 2019 // Tropical Storm Imelda has lost some of its wind power, but continues to pour rain down on the U.S. Gulf Coast, with 12 to 15 inches already recorded and flood-prone Houston in its path. Imelda is now a tropical depression,...
Low-Pressure System Off Texas Coast Expected to Bring Heavy Rain, Flooding
Sep 17 2019 // With a low pressure system hovering off the Texas Gulf Coast that the National Hurricane Center could become a tropical depression, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has elevated the state operations center to an increased readiness...
Louisiana Farm Program Receives More Funding for Flood Recovery
Sep 17 2019 // A Louisiana program aimed at helping farmers recover from extreme flooding events in 2016 has received an additional $10 million in grant awards, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry announced. The...
