Americans' flood risk is far greater than previously thought, study finds

8/15/2018 (Permalink)

Storm water flooded the streets with and vehicles.

A new study led by the University of Bristol states that 41 million Americans are at risk from flooding rivers, according to phys.org. That’s more than three times than the current estimate of 13 million people.

Related: Nor’easter leaves thousands without power, record coastal flooding expected

The study is based on a new high-resolution model that maps flood risk across the entire continental United States, whereas the existing regulatory flood maps produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cover about 60% of the continental U.S.

The estimate of 41 million does not include the millions of additional Americans that are at risk of coastal flooding.

The increase in numbers of those at risk is a result of the expanded coverage of the map combined with its ability to estimate flooding on small streams—something that wasn’t adequately captured in previous flood-risk models, according to the study’s researchers. The study predicts that more than 60 million Americans may be vulnerable to a 100-year flood by 2050.

“Because climate change may cause so-called ’100-year’ floods to occur more frequently, even more people may be exposed to flooding in the future. All of this highlights the critical need for comprehensive floodplain and flood risk management planning,” Oliver Wing, the lead researcher behind the study and a Ph.D. student at the University of Bristol’s School of Geographical Sciences, said in a statement.

For more information about the study, check Environmental Research Letters where it was first published.