|
|
Floods
What Is A Flood?
Floods are the most common and widespread of all natural disasters--except
fire. Most communities in the United States have experienced some kind
of flooding, after spring rains, heavy thunderstorms, or winter snow thaws.
A flood, as defined by the National Flood Insurance
Program is: "A general and temporary condition of partial or
complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or
of two or more properties (at least one of which is your property) from:
- Overflow of inland or tidal waters,
- Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface
waters from any source, or
- A mudflow.
[The] collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar
body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or
currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels that result in
a flood."
Floods can be slow, or fast rising but generally develop over a period
of days. Mitigation includes any activities that
prevent an emergency, reduce the chance of an emergency happening, or
lessen the damaging effects of unavoidable emergencies. Investing in mitigation
steps now, such as, engaging in floodplain management activities, constructing
barriers, such as levees, and purchasing flood insurance will help reduce
the amount of structural damage to your home and financial loss from building
and crop damage should a flood or flash flood occur.
What Should I Do?
Tips For Filing Your Flood Insurance Claim
• Buying flood insurance is the best thing you can do to protect your home, your business, family, and financial security.
Preparedness planning involves those efforts
undertaken before a flood to prepare for or improve capability to respond
to the event.
Hurricane Flood Threats: Hurricane
Threats & Inland Flooding
Landslides & Mudslides
| Software
Applications & Tools |
| • |
HAZUS, a natural hazard loss estimation methodology
developed by FEMA in partnership with the National
Institute of Building Sciences. Using Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) technology, HAZUS allows users to compute estimates of damage
and losses that could result from an earthquake. To support FEMA's
mitigation and emergency preparedness efforts, HAZUS is being expanded
into a multi-hazard methodology with new modules for estimating potential
losses flood (riverine and coastal)
hazards.
|
| • |
FEMA worked in partnership with NOAA,
through the Multihazard Mapping Initiative, to create multihazard
mapping web pages. The objective of HazardMaps.gov
is to maintain a living atlas of hazards data and map services for
advisory purposes supplied from a network of hazard and base map providers. |
|
 |
