The month of August is not particularly kind to the state of Louisiana. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina and a failed levee left a trail of devastation. Eleven years later, this month, a no-name storm delivered an unrelenting rainfall resulting in flash flood emergencies, an overtopped levee, and widespread flooding throughout southern Louisiana. The Red Cross […]
The 2016 hurricane season officially starts June 1, and the forecast calls for 12 named storms, five hurricanes, and two major hurricanes. If the spring storms that crippled the Houston (TX) region are any indication of Mother Nature’s volatility, we can only hope for the best and plan for the worst. Now is the time […]
Last month in Houston, TX, torrential rains dumped more than 15 inches in some areas. The following screen capture illustrates the fury of flood warnings in the region on April 18. The severe weather resulted in massive flooding, impassable roads, citizen evacuations, closed schools and crippled businesses. According to local reports, April’s relentless downpour will […]
By now, given Mother Nature’s wrath over the past year, you’ve no doubt heard plenty of references to 100-year flood events, 500-year flood events and 1,000-year flood events. The description of flooding by the likelihood of occurrence in a geographic area is a predictive measure, commonly used by those in the scientific, emergency management and […]
FEMA creates and uses flood maps to identify a community’s flood risk. The maps are based on the collection of statistical data (flow, storm tides, hydrologic/hydraulic analyses, rainfall and topographic surveys) that many contend is outdated and inaccurate in the determination of a property’s actual flood risk. And that leads to property owners being ill-prepared […]
In a recent post for Property Casualty 360, Sam Friedman and Aditya Udai Signh summarize findings from a Deloitte Financial Services report on the challenges and opportunities of flood insurance privatization. While there are some advantages for private insurers to get back into the U.S. flood insurance business, given the rollback on flood insurance reform, […]