A destroyed church in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene flooding in Swannanoa, North Carolina.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesFederal Flood Maps Are No Match for Florida’s Double Hurricane
Many areas inundated by Hurricane Helene — and in the path of Milton — sit outside the zones where homeowners are required to buy flood insurance.
Even before the second megastorm in as many weeks brings devastating floodwaters to the Southeast US, it’s already clear that federal flood-risk maps underpinning decisions by millions of American homeowners and businesses are severely out of sync with a new era of climate-intensified disasters.
The best-known guide to flood risk in the US is the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s set of flood maps, which designate high-hazard areas where homeowners with mortgages must buy flood policies. Those maps — which are now widely and incorrectly used to understand flood risk more broadly — are often out of date and don’t focus on the danger of rain-caused flooding, even as rain storms are supercharged by rising temperatures.