The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Other. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Necessary'. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Functional'. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Analytics'. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. “Flooding in the South Looks a Lot Like Climate Change.” New York Times. Go to, find the layers icon in the top-right, and select the “Flood” layer. You can discover your flood risk anywhere in the US with Temblor’s flood maps. In California, the old saying is true: When it rains, it pours. FEMA’s flood maps of the San Francisco Bay Area show that there is considerable flood risk throughout Silicon Valley, including San Jose, Santa Clara, Palo Alto, and Fremont. Looking at Tampa flood maps, it’s easy to see why.Įven in drought-addled California, flash floods can cause major damage. Petersburg could be hit by huge floods like those in Baton Rouge.

Floods also devastated Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties.Įxperts in the Tampa Bay area warn that Tampa and St. Heavy rainfall in Columbia, South Carolina, caused widespread flooding in October 2015. Actual flooding from the superstorm closely resembled FEMA’s flood maps of the region. Residents of New York and New Jersey remember Superstorm Sandy, which flooded much of the NY metropolitan area, including parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Newark, and Jersey City. In the past year, several major floods have hit the triangle between Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, including one in June that caused the deaths of nine Fort Hood soldiers. Here are some cities that could get hit by floods in the future:ĭue to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, Houston is perpetually at risk of high rainfall and flash floods. Using Temblor’s web app, we can look at flood risk anywhere FEMA has published a flood map. Today’s flood maps are still the best tool we have to estimate where flooding will most likely occur. So are current flood maps useless? Far from it. But scientists agree that climate change will likely increase the frequency of major floods. It’s extremely hard to say whether climate change is responsible for a single event like the Louisiana floods. In fact, one of the major downsides of climate change is that warm air can hold more water vapor, leading to greater amounts of rainfall and more extreme weather. But what if that assumption is not justified? This method assumes that the flood risk in the future is the same as it was in the past. However, in many places floods exceeded even the predicted 0.2% chance per year water levels, making this week’s floods truly historic.įEMA designs its flood maps by statistically analyzing past records of river flow, storm surges, and rainfall. On Tuesday, we showed how FEMA’s flood maps did a pretty good job of predicting where flooding actually occurred. Rivers are beginning to recede after several days of devastating flooding in Louisiana.

Fema flood zone map tampa