Flooding. It’s horrible.
Getting flooded out is something every prepper needs to avoid if at all possible, because being flooded is one of the surest ways to lose most… if not all… of your preps.
While it’s true that flooding can happen most places that are not on the top of a hill, we all know that some places are more likely to flood than others. For example, we live in Missouri and in our lifetimes we’ve seen two “500 year floods” in our lifetimes (1973 and 1993) and Spice’s parents were alive when another ‘500 year flood” hit the Mississippi River valley in 1927.
The 500 Year Flood – As If
One of our favorite movies ever is Princess Bride. Here’s a scene that expresses my views of the “500 year flood” concept.
I do not think the words “500 year” mean what the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) thinks it means.
Heck, by FEMA standards, Houston, Texas has been hit with three “500 year floods” for three years in a row.
Houston, You Have A Problem
According to this article in the Washington Post by Christopher Ingraham “500-year floods, as it turns out, happen more frequently than you might expect. The Houston area alone has seen no fewer than three such events in the past three years, according to local officials: Memorial Day floods in 2015 and 2016, followed by Hurricane Harvey’s torrential rains this year.
So is Houston just on a historically unlucky run of flooding, to be followed by a return to normal soon? Or was there some miscalculation of how frequently these massive flooding events occur? Or, most alarmingly, is something else happening that suggests these catastrophic weather events are becoming much more common?
Let’s start with what it means to be a “500-year” flood.
A 500-year flood isn’t necessarily something that happens once every five hundred years. Rather, a 500-year flood is an event that has a 1 in 500 chance of occurring in any given year. “For a 500-year flood, there is a 0.2 percent chance of having a flood of that magnitude occurring” in any given year, according to the National Weather Service.”
That Stat Doesn’t Really Hold Water…
So what is this really all about, these terms we keep hearing? Flood insurance and classifying zones where people build by the likelyhood that the zone will be inundated by a flood over a given period.
Flood insurance came about by an act of Congress in 1968, it’s a federal program for people to get insurance in “flood prone areas”. The cost of the insurance is based not only upon the value of the structure and contents, but also on what percentage chance they calculate your flood zone to be.
They show these on an ever-changing set of flood maps.
What is a flood map?
Well, let’s visit FEMA, the supplier of the flood mapping program, and see what they have to say…
“Flood maps are used for floodplain management, flood insurance rating, and to determine flood insurance requirements.
Flood maps generally show a community’s flood zones, floodplain boundaries, and Base Flood Elevation; together they show the risk of flooding.
No matter where you live or work, some risk of flooding exists. To find your community’s flood map, visit the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, then type in your address and search. You may view, print and download flood maps, open an interactive flood map (if available), and view all products related to your community.”
Did I mention that flood maps are constantly changing?
Why do flood maps change?
Well, there’s the “FEMA Approved answer, so I suppose we should list that first… after all, it’s our tax dollars at work, right?
“Flood hazards change over time. How water flows and drains can change due to new land use and community development or by natural forces such as changing weather, terrain changes, or wildfires. To better reflect the current flood risk conditions, FEMA uses the latest technology to update and issue new flood maps nationwide to aid communities, property owners, businesses, and other stakeholders in taking steps to address flood risks.”
Now for Salty’s version. “FEMA screws up. A lot.”
Want to see if your community map is changing? Click HERE and knock yourself out. Not literally, though, concussions can be dangerous.
Find out if your community has pending or preliminary map changes underway. When your community’s flood map is updated to reflect the current risks where you live, requirements for flood insurance coverage and the costs of your policy can also change. Want to receive an alert when your community’s flood map changes? Sign up to receive email notifications when products are updated.
Common Sense Places To Live And Work As Preppers
A lot of dealing with flooding is common sense stuff. So is dealing with a lot of other “disaster area” stuff.
As preppers, we need to really put the ole brain in risk assessment mode when we pick out where we want to live and work… and some things are just no brainers and some things are not obvious at all. Here’s a list I lifted from one of my old articles, but I think it’s pretty good stuff so here it is:
- Never buy or build in a floodplain. Ever. I don’t care if it’s 100 year or 500 year, just don’t do it.
- High ground is pretty much always the best place to live, if possible. Even boring domestic issues like sewer backup are less of a problem if you live at the top of the hill.
- Know your disasters. What is likely to happen to you where your house or business is? Are you where a hurricane storm surge could flood you? Do you live near a major seismic fault, or in the effects zone of one (watch for a future full article on this). If you have any risk, do you carry earthquake insurance (earthquakes are excluded in virtually all homeowners policies).
- Do you live in a wildfire prone area?
- Do you live in a tornado area, if so do you have good shelter.
Just some things to think about… because this is NOT where you want to be…