Extreme Floods Expose the Flaws in FEMA Maps

On December 6th, the Washington Post published an article entitled: America underwater – Extreme floods expose the flaws in FEMA’s risk maps. The story confirms many of the shortcomings of FEMA flood maps that have been widely known for years.

The approach to preparing the story is really interesting. Reporters gathered visuals of flooding across the country this summer, scouring social media, videos from the news verification group Storyful, weather reports, and local and national media. Next, reporters verified and geolocated the videos by cross-referencing landmarks in the footage with reliable source material. Reporters compared those coordinates to FEMA and FIRST Street Foundation maps, spoke to the residents who experienced these floods, and consulted experts as well as local and federal officials. Flood plain data is from FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center. Additional flood risk data was provided by the First Street Foundation. Aerial imagery is via Mapbox.

It appears that anyone can access this story, even without a subscription to the newspaper. Click Here to view the full article

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