Industry News

Weeks ahead of schedule, the hurricane season’s first tropical system could develop near Florida and the Bahamas this weekend, forecasters said Tuesday. As of midday Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said there was a 50% chance of development within the next five days. “An area of low pressure is expected to develop this weekend a couple hundred miles northeast of the Bahamas,” the hurricane center said.

Atmospheric rivers are narrow ribbons of concentrated moisture that originate in the Pacific and can flow thousands of miles before dropping rain and snow on land. Scientists are ramping up their research into the systems this winter fearful that warmer temperatures tied to climate change will boost the moisture they carry, supercharging them moving forward.

Recent research finds that repeated flooding events have a cumulative effect on the structural integrity of earthen levees, suggesting that the increase in extreme weather events associated with climate change could pose significant challenges for the nation’s aging levee system.

The United States had 14 major weather disasters last year, with a toll of at least 44 dead and a price tag of $45 billion, according to federal officials.

According to the United States Geological Survey, “more than 75% of declared Federal disasters are related to floods, and annual flood losses average almost $8 billion with over 90 fatalities per year.” Flooding poses serious risk, and as the climate changes, the number of homes in the United States facing a risk of flooding is increasing.

Just 10 intense atmospheric rivers caused nearly half the West’s flood damage over 40 years, new research shows. They’re a hint of what’s ahead with global warming.

11/2019

When Lebron Lackey, his wife, Heather, and his uncle, Russell King, decided to build a posh oceanfront home in Mexico Beach, Florida, they ignored the small community’s building codes and made construction plans based on instinct, hoping the structure would last 100 years even if struck by a hurricane. Barely six months after construction was completed, on Oct. 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael, a Category 4 with 155-mph winds and a storm surge of 19 feet, made landfall in Mexico Beach.

10/2019

With both inland and coastal communities increasingly experiencing flood damage, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to increase risk and pricing transparency in flood coverage and close the large flood insurance gap in America.

If it rains, it can flood. That stark reality has been driven home in the last few years as hurricane-related rainfalls smashed records and inundated communities from Houston to New York City. Homes and businesses from coast to coast suffered extensive inland flooding, and swollen rivers breached levees and left farmlands and communities across the Midwest immersed in huge amounts of standing water.

11/06/2019

Even in risky areas, some homeowners still skip flood coverage. Flooding, is the most common cause of disaster-related damages in the United States. The vast majority of standard home insurance policies do not cover flooding. To ensure coverage, most homeowners must purchase a separate policy backed by the federal government under the National Flood Insurance Program. Managed by FEMA, Congress created the program in 1968 to offer primary flood insurance to properties with significant flood risk as many private insurers stopped offering coverage. It was designed to reduce escalating costs associated with helping flood survivors recover losses.

10/13/2019

The data, known as Atlas 14, revealed that parts of Austin are seeing as much as three inches more rain in major storm events than the NOAA had calculated with old rainfall data back in 1961.

9/26/2019

Congress has approved another stopgap funding measure that will keep the federal government running at least through November 21.