Federal flood maps published by FEMA aren’t accounting for climate change in their projections, systematically underestimating flood risk across U.S.

In the Wake of the Water



by placesjournal

9 comments

  1. Federal flood-risk maps — which millions of Americans rely on to make decisions about the future of their homes — aren’t accounting for climate change in their projections. The result? Risk models that systematically underestimate threats facing residents of flood-prone areas across the U.S.

    Edwin Piverger lives in a house he says shouldn’t have been built. It has a 99.9 percent chance of flooding within the next 30 years, according to data prominently displayed on Redfin and other real-estate websites. Maps published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency show that the regulatory floodway — the land allotted to the river — ends at the foundation.

    These homeowners don’t deny climate change. They’ve adapted to living with the water, and in some ways, their firsthand knowledge is more precise and information-dense than even state-of-the-art climate models. But it’s also true that their knowledge is partial and occluded. So they stay. They wall, they mop, they lift.

    What will happen when the next storm hits?

    Full article: [https://placesjournal.org/article/in-the-wake-of-the-water/](https://placesjournal.org/article/in-the-wake-of-the-water/)

  2. This will be fine, I’m sure. No negative consequences.

    Or cities will start going bankrupt and political instability will increase.

    One or the other.

  3. No accounting for climate change, and the next admin will wipe any mention of climate change from the books. This will be fine.

  5. Wait until they disband FEMA, using the old “can’t have any problems if you don’t study it” mindset.

  6. Good. Maybe most of the people who drown will be Trump supporters.

  7. The flood insurance fund already operates at a loss. So taxpayers are subsidizing property owners who live in the flood plain. We all lose from this behavior

  8. Yup. FEMA flood maps were completely inaccurate for what happened in Western North Carolina.

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