Latest Flood Headlines

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

$560M Comite River Canal Designed to Limit Baton Rouge, Louisiana Flooding

May 16 2022 // You can’t quite see it yet from Plank Road or La. 19 near Zachary, but work crews are building a man-made river from scratch. Down inside a huge, wide “V” carved out of the earth, concrete pillars for a...

Climate Change Exacerbated Deadly Floods in South Africa: Study

May 16 2022 // South Africa’s deadliest floods in almost three decades was exacerbated by climate change and similarly heavy rainfall can be expected to occur more regularly, according to scientists collaborating under the World...

FEMA Contractors Not Liable for Misrepresentations About Flood Risk

May 16 2022 // The North Fork of the White River in southern Missouri is a nationally known fly-fishing destination, teeming with brown and rainbow trout. The stream is fed from underground springs in the Ozark Mountains, keeping its...

Two Barges Break Free in Flooding, Float Down the Potomac

May 11 2022 // WILLIAMSPORT, Md. (AP) — Two construction barges broke free from their moorings amid flooding on the Potomac River over the weekend and floated downstream before being snagged by underwater materials, a National Park...

West Virginia Governor Declares Emergency After Flooding in Three Counties

May 9 2022 // West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for three counties following heavy rains that caused significant local flooding. The emergency was declared for Cabell, Putnam and Roane counties. The severe...

New Jersey Steers $50M Into Program to Buy Flood-Prone Properties

May 6 2022 // On a residential block in Lambertville, New Jersey where Tropical Storm Ida’s flood waters swept two houses into Swan Creek, Governor Phil Murphy announced a $50 million investment in a homeowner buyout program for...

Insurance Price Tag for Australia’s Record-Breaking Floods Estimated at A$3.35B: ICA

May 6 2022 // The storms and floods that hit South-East Queensland and coastal New South Wales in February and March are likely to be Australia’s costliest floods on record, according to the Insurance Council of Australia...

FEMA Contractors Not Liable for Misrepresentations About Flood Risk

May 3 2022 // The North Fork of the White River in southern Missouri is a nationally known fly-fishing destination, teeming with brown and rainbow trout. The stream is fed from underground springs in the Ozark Mountains, keeping its...

National Guard Called Up to Help NW Minnesota Flood Threat

Apr 26 2022 // Volunteers and National Guard members in northwestern Minnesota spent two days sandbagging to fortify the city of Crookston from an expected record flood along the Red Lake River. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz authorized 100...

81% of Flood Insurance Policyholders Will See Rate Increases, Report Says

Apr 26 2022 // When the Federal Emergency Management Agency rolled out a major overhaul to its beleaguered National Flood Insurance Program last April, it promised that bigger, richer homes would bear the brunt of premium increases,...

FEMA Invites Public to Comment on Johnson County, Texas Flood Maps

Apr 22 2022 // Preliminary flood risk information and updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps are available for review in Johnson County, Texas, FEMA announced this week. Residents and business owners are encouraged to review the latest...

Insured Losses From Eastern Australia Floods Estimated at A$4B: PERILS

Apr 21 2022 // Initial insurance losses for the Eastern Australia floods are estimated at A$3.99 billion (US$2.97 billion), according to PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization that provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance...

California Trying to Reduce Flood Risk Along Rivers

Apr 20 2022 // Between vast almond orchards and dairy pastures in the heart of California’s farm country sits a property being redesigned to look like it did 150 years ago, before levees restricted the flow of rivers that weave...

Gulf Coast, Mississippi River Regions Eager for Flood Funding

Apr 19 2022 // When Hurricane Ida hit last summer, a storm surge overwhelmed a levee and gushed into Ted Falgout’s coastal Louisiana home, destroying his furniture and the beloved framed photos of his twin sons kissing him on their...

UK’s Flood Re Launches Scheme to Help Homowners Raise Resilience Against Floods

Apr 18 2022 // Flood Re, the joint initiative between the UK insurance industry and the UK government to promote the availability and affordability of flood insurance, has launched a proposition designed to ensure homes are more...

Floods Drive Economic Losses in 2021, but Only 25% of Risks Are Insured: Swiss Re

Apr 18 2022 // More than 50 severe flood events around the world caused combined economic losses of $82 billion in 2021, while insured losses stood at slightly more than $20 billion — more evidence of a large ongoing global...

Update: South Africa’s Deadliest Floods in 6 Decades Claim More Than 300 Lives

Apr 14 2022 // South Africa declared floods that killed more than 300 people in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province a disaster, enabling the government to free up funds to assist with reconstruction in the area. The heaviest rainfall in...

Walgreens Flooded Florida with Opioids, State Lawyer Tells Jury

Apr 12 2022 // Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. supplied billions of opioid pills to drug addicts and criminals, contributing to an addiction epidemic in Florida, a lawyer for the state said Monday in a civil trial against the pharmacy...

Families Blame CSX for Tennessee Flooding that Killed 20 in August

Apr 11 2022 // Ten families are suing CSX Transportation for up to $450 million over flooding that killed 20 people in Tennessee last year, claiming a clog underneath the railroad giant’s bridge in rural Waverly allowed a...

Reinsurers to Bear Brunt of Australia Flood Claims: AM Best

Apr 5 2022 // The majority of gross losses from recent devastating flooding in Australia likely will be borne by reinsurers with limited impact on primary insurers’ balance sheets, according to an AM Best report. The flooding...