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Graphic: CNN
Why This Matters: FEMA’s flood data doesn’t account for many counties across the United States and in about 3,300 communities, the flood maps are more than 15 years old. We wrote last week that climate change will make it so that millions of Americans could lose access to the 30-year mortgage. This new flood data will make those assessments, along with which homes are uninsurable easier to determine. It’s also why we need a national climate service to regularly assess these risks for all Americans. Homeowners and renters must have easy access to data outlining the risks they’re facing.
Go Deeper: You for your home’s flood risk at FloodFactor.com.
FYI: As Axios wrote, Realtor.com plans to integrate the data soon on its website, though it doesn’t have a specific launch date yet, a spokeswoman said Sunday.
The Discrepancy: First Street’s data was much more granular than FEMA’s and yielded a far different picture of national flood risk. As FEMA said in a statement, its maps are intended for floodplain-management and emergency-response decisions.
“The FEMA Flood Insurance Risk Maps and First Street Foundation maps do not conflict with each other, rather they complement one another by depicting different types of risk,” FEMA said. “Users should explore the differences between the maps to build a more comprehensive understanding of flood risk
Graphic: CNN
A Growing Flooding Risk: Climate change is causing more extreme precipitation and a growing risk of flooding in inland areas. This is in addition to increasing coastal flooding as a result of sea-level rise. Communities must prepare for these threats and take the science seriously–as not all do.
A new study shows that climate change in the 150 years since the industrial revolution has canceled out the prior 6500 years of cooling. The study, conducted by researchers at Northern Arizona University’s School of Earth and Sustainability (SES), examined a new compilation of paleoclimate data along with new statistical analyses and found that millennial-scale […]
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There’s been ample research to show that the Arctic is warming much faster than any other region on the planet. However, there’s been little media focus on what’s happening on the opposite side of the planet, until now. A new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday has revealed that the South […]
Continue Reading 292 wordsA coalition of nearly 300 progressive groups that span the environmental and civil rights movements have been working together for a year to hammer out the pillars of a climate justice plan they want to see passed, and the House Climate Crisis Committee adopted much of it in the comprehensive Solving the Climate Crisis Action Plan released on Tuesday.
Why This Matters: When they work together in a coalition, these groups have real political muscle.
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