Latest Flood Headlines

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

High Rivers, Saturated Soil in South Dakota: A Recipe for Spring Flooding

Mar 10 2020 // Southeastern South Dakota is only one heavy rain or snow storm away from major flooding this spring.While Sioux Falls got a fraction of snow during February, there’s still an elevated risk of flooding. City, county...

UK Insurance Claims from Storms Ciara and Dennis Estimated at US$473.7M

Mar 9 2020 // Insurers expect to make payments to customers hit by the recent Storms Ciara and Dennis of over £363 million (US$ 473.7 million), according to initial estimates from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).Initial ABI...

A&M Study: Texas’ Future Depends on Climate Preparedness

Mar 6 2020 // Texans should expect warmer weather, more wildfires and urban flooding, and increased impact from hurricanes through 2036 thanks to climate change, according to a new study from the Office of the Texas State Climatologist...

Canada Government Must Move Quickly to Map Flood Risks, Insurers Warn

Mar 5 2020 // Canada plans to focus its next budget on tackling climate change and its effects but the insurance industry, amid skyrocketing costs, is concerned the government will move too slowly on the key first step of mapping flood...

Homes in Flood Plains May Be Overvalued by $34 Billion

Mar 3 2020 // At least 3.8 million U.S. homes lie in flood plains. Together, they may be overvalued by $34 billion.New research published Monday in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper shows that markets fail to...

Nebraska to Feds: Make Flood Control on Missouri River a Priority

Mar 3 2020 // Nebraska lawmakers have sent a nearly unanimous message to federal officials who control the flow of the Missouri River: focus on preventing floods above all else.Lawmakers voted 43-1 on a resolution calling on Congress...

America’s Farmers Brace for Another Season of Costly River Flooding

Mar 3 2020 // For the second year in a row, much of the U.S. is primed to suffer multi-billion dollar flood losses, with farmers already steeling themselves for planting delays.Relentless storms that have marched across the Midwest and...

Hazard Mitigation Legislation Moves Forward in Oklahoma House

Mar 2 2020 // Legislation that would create the Oklahoma Hazard Mitigation Assessment District Act has passed out of committee and moved to the full House for consideration.The House County and Municipal Government Committee passed...

Agency M&As: Private Equity Still in Driver’s Seat; Digital Agencies Attract Attention

Mar 2 2020 // The private equity bandwagon continued to roll through the insurance agency and brokerage mergers and acquisitions territory in 2019. As many as two-thirds of all deals involved private equity, according to experts. Most...

Arkema, Executives Accused of Failures in Chemical Fire at Texas Plant

Feb 28 2020 // Jurors in the criminal case against the U.S. arm of a French company on Feb. 27 heard it routinely stored combustible chemicals where floodwaters could reach them and failed to alert emergency workers as toxic fires...

Relentless Rain, Rising Rivers Keep Flooding Southeast Communities

Feb 27 2020 // This winter’s relentless rains across the South are still draining into rising rivers, leading to ongoing flooding in some communities.In south Alabama, the Bayou Sara is forecast to crest at 8 feet (2.4 meters) by...

FEMA to Texans with Post-Harvey Group Flood Insurance: Plan for Standard Coverage

Feb 27 2020 // Following Hurricane Harvey in late August 2017, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued three-year group flood insurance policies (GFIPs) to nearly 7,000 households in Texas that were impacted by the storm. FEMA...

How Draining the Reservoir Can Help Mitigate Flooding

Feb 27 2020 // Persistent rains have been pounding the Southeast, and a week ago, the Pearl River in Jackson, Mississippi, spilled over its banks, submerging a dozen city blocks in several feet of water.The river had crested at 36.7...

West Virginia to Receive More Funds for 2016 Flood Recovery

Feb 26 2020 // President Donald Trump has increased the federal share of costs to help West Virginia recover from floods that ravaged the state in June 2016.Gov. Jim Justice’s office said Friday that Trump approved his request to...

Neptune Flood Insurance Offering Coverage in Louisiana

Feb 25 2020 // Neptune Flood, an all-digital, online flood insurance company, has officially opened for business in Louisiana.Louisiana is Neptune’s 39th state and is the second largest market for flood insurance in the United...

2 Tropical Cyclones Trigger Heavy Rainfall, Flooding in Jakarta

Feb 25 2020 // Parts of Indonesian capital and its suburbs were flooded after two tropical cyclones off the nation’s coast triggered heavy rainfall overnight, inundating houses in low-lying areas and causing a power outage.More...

Louisiana Approved to Spend $1.2B in Flood Aid

Feb 24 2020 // Louisiana can soon start spending $1.2 billion in federal cash to fortify communities against future flood risks, after the governor’s office announced Friday that federal officials have approved the state’s...

CoreLogic: 2019 Was 7th Year in Last Decade with 10 or More Disasters of $1B-Plus

Feb 24 2020 // Last year was a particularly hazardous one, with natural catastrophes causing excessive damages in what appears to be an ongoing trend of higher losses in the past decade, while also posing a danger in many U.S....

Judge Rules Army Corps Not Responsible for Harvey Flooding Damage

Feb 21 2020 // A federal judge has ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers isn’t liable to damage to thousands of Houston homes that were inundated by two federally owned reservoirs in the days following Hurricane Harvey because...

Minnesota Governor Wants $30M to Replenish State Disaster Aid Fund

Feb 21 2020 // With the threat of spring flooding looming, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has asked lawmakers to approve $30 million to replenish a state disaster aid fund that was drained by a string of disasters last year.Walz said an updated...