American homes getting updated flood risk scores...

[K Frame]

And in a lot of cases, they're changing.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/26/every-us-home-gets-flood-risk-score-and-many-are-at-higher-risk.html

You can get to the flood score interactive website here: https://firststreet.org/flood-factor/

This is taking into account changing climactic factors and risking sea levels.

[TommyGunn]

What is a "risking sea level" ? ? ?

[K Frame]

What is a "risking sea level" ? ? ?

It's a very, very special factor indeed...

[WLJ]

What is a "risking sea level" ? ? ?

The Greta excuse to raise your rates

[charby]

When my town flooded in 2018 due to saturated soils and about a foot of rain over a 2 days, the flood maps were redrawn. Many of my neighbors now have to have flood insurance, even though I have waterfront property, I'm on a knoll with a couple neighbors and we are above the 500 year flood event.

[MillCreek]

Mine is 1/10: minimal flood risk.  We are at 540 feet elevation in the Cascade foothills above a broad, flat river valley, and the nearest fork of the river is 6 miles away.

[K Frame]

Mine is minimal risk, as well, but the site still recommends flood insurance...

I've had water in my basement a couple of times over the years, always from the same source -- a small crack in the foundation and soil that doesn't drain worth *expletive deleted*it.

However, things got a LOT better when I finally realized that the roof and gutters on my house weren't installed properly and it was allowing excessive amounts of water to pool against the foundation. Got that taken care of, and no issues except when we have really heavy snow and it starts to melt, causing excessive pooling against the foundation. Shoveling the snow off that part of the patio takes care of that.

It also helps a lot that my house is at the highest point in my community and the land drops away fairly rapidly once you get away from the house. One of these days I'll have to check out the GIS maps to see what all the elevations are in my area.

[Kingcreek]

Mine is at minimal risk of flooding even though we have a creek in the front yard. I've seen it flood out of its banks about 3x in the past 25 years but the highest water level I've seen is still a few feet lower than my basement floor.

[RoadKingLarry]

Flooding is one thing I do not have to worry about.
For me to get flood water into my house would require the surrounding countryside to be under close to 100' of water.
If that were to happen insurance would be the last thing on my mind.

[HeroHog]

Our address here in Shreveport, LA:

This property has minimal flood risk.
This property has a Minimal Flood Factorâ„¢

. Although flood risks across the country are changing because of the environment, this property is unlikely to flood over the next 30 years.

[charby]

Our address here in Shreveport, LA:

This property has minimal flood risk.
This property has a Minimal Flood Factorâ„¢

. Although flood risks across the country are changing because of the environment, this property is unlikely to flood over the next 30 years.

Stay ssfe in the hurricane.

[Ben]

Well, just like Google maps, they put my address in the middle of one of my pastures, which is 200 yards from the house and over 20' lower. That gives me a 5/10. Going by the analysis polygons, however, the house is clear. I'm currently not required or even recommended to have flood insurance.

The FEMA maps have me in an area of minimal flood hazard, and they also have my address in the low lying pasture.

https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home

[MechAg94]

Hurricane Harvey was the only hurricane I know of that made landfall, stopped, and then continued as a hurricane/tropical storm while on land for a few days before finally moving off.  Is that the event they want to rate insurance for? 

The biggest problem with Harvey was all the flood control systems around Houston were not designed for that level of rainfall in that short a time.  A coworker got flooded not when the storm hit, but when the reservoir upstream decided to open their flood gates in the middle of the night and dump a crap load of water; flooded whole neighborhoods overnight catching all the residents by surprise.  The water was high enough they couldn't drive out before they even knew there was an issue.  My brother was really close to flooding as local levees were nearly topped.  A lot of issues cropped up because so many subdivisions have been added in recent decades cover open land that used to flood.  There just isn't enough drainage to handle that type of event. 

Maybe there is a way to update building standards so houses can survive a little high water without having to gut them and replace everything. 

[K Frame]

Along coastal Virginia where a friend of mine now lives I'm seeing more and more houses, generally older ones, actually being lifted.

There are no (or very few) basements in that area because of both flooding concerns and the general water table is literally a few inches below ground level, so most houses have crawlspaces underneath.

What I'm seeing done is that a company comes in, puts beams under the house, lifts it, and then a new structure of block or poured walls is built under it and the house is set back down on the new level.

Most of the ones I'm seeing seem to  be using the new space for garage, not actual living space.

[MechAg94]

I have seen some homes jacked up here also.  I hear it is pretty expensive, but cheaper than building a new house.  One I saw just after it was lifted was in a flat area near the Brazos River that has flooded a couple times in the last 5 years.  They only raised the house 5 or 6 feet, but that is enough to avoid the flooding.  I think they are just back filling with dirt.  I can't remember if they made room for vehicles to park up high.


A coworker's house was inches away from flooding during Harvey.  He was one of about 4 in his area that did not flood.  Everyone else is rebuilding with foundation pads at least as high as theirs.  

[Parker Dean]

I got a 4 out of 10 for a Moderate Risk because risk accumulates over time. Apparently the area has a 1 percent risk in any single year so it becomes a 26 percent chance that it may flood sometime in the next 30 years.