Latest Flood Headlines
All the headlines from our Flood Topic Page, ordered by recency.
FEMA Statement on Texas Toxic Sites Clarified by EPA
Sep 26 2017 // The Environmental Protection Agency said on Sept. 24 it has recovered 517 containers filled with unidentified, potentially hazardous material found floating in or washed up along Texas waterways after the devastating...
Insured Losses in Caribbean from Hurricane Maria Estimated at $40B-$85B: AIR
Sep 26 2017 // Industry insured losses for Hurricane Maria in the Caribbean will be between US$40 billion and US$85 billion, according to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide. Puerto Rico alone accounts for more than 85 percent of the...
RMS Names Dailey to Lead U.S. Inland Flood Model in California
Sep 25 2017 // RMS has named Pete Dailey vice president to lead flood model development in its California headquarters. Dailey will oversee the upcoming release of the RMS U.S. Inland Flood Mode, and he will lead the development of...
Note to Texas, Florida: Insurance Fights Over Sandy Rage On
Sep 25 2017 // The destructive floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy receded quickly, but some storm victims are still neck-deep in a battle over insurance payouts. And many victims of this year’s storms in Texas, Florida and elsewhere...
EPA Won’t Say Which Texas Sites Toxic Waste Has Been Removed From After Harvey
Sep 24 2017 // The Environmental Protection Agency says it has recovered 517 containers of “unidentified, potentially hazardous material” from highly contaminated toxic waste sites in Texas that flooded last month during...
How Home Values Track with High, Low Risk of Natural Hazards: ATTOM Data
Sep 22 2017 // Americans are still buying homes in areas with high risk of natural hazards and the homes in those cities continue to appreciate in value far faster than homes in low natural hazard locales. However, the effect on home...
Researchers: FEMA’s Houston Flood Maps Outdated Long Before Harvey
Sep 22 2017 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood plain maps for parts of southeastern Houston were woefully out-of-date long before Hurricane Harvey ravaged the Texas coast, a new study suggests. Researchers at Rice...
Insurance Industry Tallies Irma’s Mounting Losses in Florida
Sep 22 2017 // With two Florida landfalls in the same day, Hurricane Irma‘s destructive wind and flood damage could cost up to $65 billion for both insured and uninsured losses, according to a recent estimate by...
Texans Helping Texans: Independent MGAs Join Forces for Targeted Harvey Relief
Sep 21 2017 // A group of independently owned Texas managing general agents (MGAs) have come together to provide targeted, direct, local relief to communities affected by Hurricane Harvey. Texas MGAs for Disaster Relief is working with...
Allstate Would Consider Selling Private Flood Insurance If Federal Program Is Revamped
Sep 21 2017 // Allstate Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer Tom Wilson on Tuesday called on U.S. lawmakers to overhaul a government subsidized flood insurance program, calling for a more streamlined system that does not overburden...
Hurricane Maria Carves Path of Destruction Through Puerto Rico
Sep 20 2017 // Hurricane Maria, the strongest storm to strike Puerto Rico in nearly 90 years, carved a path of destruction through the U.S. territory on Wednesday, causing widespread flooding and knocking power out across the island...
After the Storm: Insurance Agents E&O Lessons Learned
Sep 20 2017 // Editor’s Note: This is a republication of a January, 2013 article by Sally Coombs, who was then with Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co, which is now integrated into Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty...
FEMA Not Relying on Trailers to House Hurricane Victims
Sep 20 2017 // The hurricanes that battered Texas and Florida have likely spawned the worst disaster-created housing crisis since Hurricane Katrina left hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents without homes more than a decade...
What If an Irma-Like Hurricane Hit the New York City Metro Area?
Sep 19 2017 // It sounds like a Hollywood disaster movie. A Category 5 hurricane churning in the mid-Atlantic suddenly veers northwest – and heads straight for New York City. The good news is that, for now, experts agree a Cat...
‘Future-Proofing’ Texas a Political, Bureaucratic Challenge for Harvey Recovery Czar
Sep 18 2017 // The man tasked with overseeing Texas’ Hurricane Harvey rebuilding efforts sees his job as “future-proofing” before the next disaster, but he isn’t empowered on his own to reshape flood-prone Houston...
Some Insurance Adjusters Camping Out in Texas after Harvey
Sep 18 2017 // To process tens of thousands of auto and property claims with losses already well into the billions of dollars, insurance companies have adjusters camping out across Texas. The Houston Chronicle reports in one case, the...
Hey Congress, Hurricanes and Health Care Have a Lot in Common: Bloomberg View
Sep 18 2017 // As Congress continues to struggle with health insurance reform, members should be ruminating on the scenes of “recovery” beaming in from East Texas and Florida, where the majority of households — many now...
Firms Hit by Harvey, Irma Hope Business Interruption Coverage Pays Off
Sep 18 2017 // Business owners who are trying to get back on track after hurricanes Harvey and Irma now face a different sort of challenge: trying to recoup lost income from their insurers. Exclusions in the fine print of policies, along...
Why the Federal Flood Program Is Sinking Deeper into Debt: CBO Report
Sep 18 2017 // The federal flood insurance program is on a course to continue falling deeper in debt, even when there is no catastrophic storm like Katrina or Harvey. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is currently on a path...
6 Tips to Consider in a Post-Harvey and Irma Homebuilding Market
Sep 18 2017 // The images of familiar places underwater in South Texas and Floria haunt us. The spirit of volunteers risking their lives to help strangers emboldens us. But those in the home building insurance industry naturally start to...
