Latest Flood Headlines

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

Oil Companies Land a Victory in Louisiana Coastal Lawsuit

Mar 8 2017 // A federal appeals court on March 3 refused to revive a Louisiana levee board’s lawsuit blaming dozens of oil and gas companies for damage to the state’s fragile coast, a major victory for energy companies and...

San Jose Floods Force Out Vietnamese Families

Mar 8 2017 // When the floodwaters rushed in last month in San Jose, a firefighter hauled Hien Nguyen to safety. She left behind the two-bedroom apartment she shared with a roommate for $1,000 a month, managing only to take her...

The Competitive Advantage: Insurance is Losing the Battle of Public Relations

Mar 6 2017 // Flooding in southern Louisiana in the late summer of 2016 revealed 86 percent of flooded homes had no flood insurance. No flood insurance next door to one of our nation’s — and that state’s —...

Billionaire from California Donates $5M to Help San Jose Flood Relief Efforts

Mar 3 2017 // A California billionaire has donated $5 million for flood relief efforts in San Jose. Kieu Hoang is a one-time refugee from Vietnam who built a fortune in medical products. He presented a check to city officials this week....

Nationwide Says Extreme Weather Brings Bigger Claims, Need for Disaster Plans

Mar 2 2017 // More extreme weather has led to more extreme insurance claims in the U.S. over the past few years. In a review of more than 100,000 commercial catastrophe claims during a 10-year period, Mark A. Anderson, a claims...

San Jose Flooding Resulted in $73M in Damages, City Official Says

Mar 1 2017 // A San Jose, Calif. official says an initial estimate puts damage costs from last week’s flooding of several residential neighborhoods at $73 million. Assistant City Manager David Sykes said flood damage to private...

California Governor Calls for $437M in Spending for Flood Control

Feb 27 2017 // California Gov. Jerry Brown is calling for a boost in spending on water and transportation infrastructure as the waterlogged state grapples with an emergency dam repair, frantic levee fixes and catastrophic road damage...

Study Warns on Cumulative Effect of ‘Drip, Drip, Drip’ of Nuisance Flooding

Feb 23 2017 // Climate change is being felt in many coastal communities of the United States, not always in the form of big weather disasters but as a steady drip, drip, drip of nuisance flooding. According to researchers at the...

Homeowners in South Carolina County Seek Buyout of Flooded Property

Feb 21 2017 // More than two dozen Lexington County, S.C., residents are ready to sell their homes rather than repair the flood damage. The State newspaper reported that 28 homeowners are asking county officials to buy and demolish the...

CoreLogic: $13.3B in Reconstruction at Risk in Northern California Dam Failure

Feb 15 2017 // Roughly 50,047 single- and multi-family residential homes could be damaged with an estimated reconstruction cost value of $13.3 billion if the Oroville Dam in California were to fail completely, according to new data...

Flood Concerns Dismissed by Dam Managers California 12 Years Ago

Feb 15 2017 // Environmental activists and local government officials warned more than a decade ago about the risk of catastrophic flooding below a major Northern California dam – the very scenario that threatened to unfold over the...

Palomar Specialty Launches Residential Flood Program in California

Feb 14 2017 // Palomar Specialty Insurance Co. has launched Flood Guard, a private flood program in California that uses an advanced and granular proprietary rating system. Palomar used catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide’s...

Flood Emergency Declared at Utah Dam During Heavy Snowmelt

Feb 13 2017 // Federal water managers declared a first-stage flood emergency for the first time at a popular state park and released water from a dam as warming temperatures sent water from rapid snowmelt into homes and onto roads in...

In Washington, Louisiana Governor Seeks More Flood Assistance

Feb 9 2017 // Gov. John Bel Edwards is making his sixth trip to Washington to lobby for $2 billion more federal flood aid for Louisiana. The state has received $1.6 billion from Congress so far to respond to the March and August...

Louisiana Commissioner Extends Flooding Emergency Rule after Tornadoes

Feb 9 2017 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has issued Emergency Rule 32, which extends previous emergency rules issued after the historic flooding in the state in August 2016. The Louisiana Department of Insurance said...

Severe U.S. Weather During January Cost Insurers More Than $1B: Aon

Feb 9 2017 // Major weather and flood events in the U.S. during January will cost the insurance industry more than $1 billion as tornadoes hit a 17-year high, according a report published by Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s...

Demolishing of Baton Rouge Flood-Damaged Homes Set to Begin

Feb 8 2017 // Baton Rouge, La., officials are preparing to tear down abandoned homes that were damaged from flooding in August. The city-parish said in a Feb. 6 news release that officials will start to condemn the abandoned units, with...

Proof of Loss Deadline Extended for Florida Hurricane Matthew Claims

Feb 8 2017 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has granted another extension giving National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders in Florida an additional...

School Flood Damage in Baton Rouge Tops $60M

Feb 7 2017 // Officials estimate that it will cost more than $62 million and years of work to repair flooded schools in Baton Rouge. The Advocate reports that of the 10 schools that were forced to temporarily relocate because of the...

Red River Flooding Concerns on the Rise in Midwest

Feb 7 2017 // After several dry springs, communities are keeping a wary eye on the Red River in case it’s due for another flood. The region has been soaked with double the usual amount of winter rain, sleet and snow this winter,...