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U.S. schools are rebuilding on safer ground to combat flooding and climate change

Jul 18, 2022
Thousands of schools are located in areas subject to flooding, a Pew study says. Rebuilding puts schools in competition for safer land.
Needing to rebuild and re-purchase supplies after a flood can be very expensive for schools and their communities, said Matt Casale with the Public Interest Research Group. Above, volunteers clean a school in Houston after flooding from Hurricane Harvey in 2017. 
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Flood risk to rise more than 25% in the next few decades because of climate change

Feb 2, 2022
As the climate shifts, the rise in flood risk will disproportionately affect Black communities.
An aerial picture taken on Jan. 3, 2022, shows vehicles driving along a road flooded with ocean water during the "King Tide" in Mill Valley, California.
JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images

Hurricane Ida flooded their basement apartment. Months later, they've barely begun to recover.

Nov 9, 2021
Many New York basement apartments flooded in September. Most of the hardest-hit residents were low-income, and most were immigrants.
People clean up their flooded homes in Queens, New York, after the remnants of Ida passed through the area. The storm hit undocumented immigrants particularly hard.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

How Germany's Ahr region found a way to sell wine after a devastating flood

Sep 28, 2021
Vineyards in the Ahr Valley were destroyed by the summer floods, but that opened up a unique business opportunity for the area. Meet FlutWein.
Peter Kriechel and Daniel Kollar (in shorts) are the founders of FlutWein, which has been successful selling wine from the flood-ravaged Ahr wine region.
Victoria Craig / BBC

Post-election, infrastructure question looms over Germany's flood-damaged regions

Sep 27, 2021
The town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler illustrates many of the climate change and infrastructure issues that have been part of the election's talking points.
A man rides his bicycle on streets destroyed by the flood in Bad Neuenahr, western Germany on August 25, 2021, weeks after heavy rain and floods caused major damage in the Ahr region.
INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images

Why doesn't homeowners insurance cover flood damage?

Sep 16, 2021
Short answer: Flooding cost insurance companies too much money, so the federal government stepped in.
Natural disasters have increased in scope and scale, increasing costs but not always homeowners premiums. Senior economics contributor Chris Farrell expects reform to come to the market.
Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Texas may soon require landlords to inform renters about flood risk

May 28, 2021
The state requires disclosure of flood risk information to buyers, but not to people who rent their homes. For now.
In the Houston area, nearly half a million renters live in a floodplain. New protections could mean a significant shift for them.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

A flood-damaged Kurdish market begins to recover with community support

May 12, 2021
Nashville's Botan Market reopened in time to serve its community during Ramadan.
Botan Market in Nashville, Tennessee, suffered more than $300,000 in inventory damage during recent flooding.
Alexis Marshall/WPLN News

Nashville flooding renews federal push to tear down homes

Apr 29, 2021
Those in areas prone to flooding are weighing whether it's better to stay in a home, or take a government buyout.
Baylie McDaniel is a public school teacher in Nashville who is starting the long process of rebuilding after floodwaters inundated her home in late March. She says she'd prefer the city to focus on controlling Seven Mile Creek rather than buying homes to tear them down.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News