Spring Flooding
Homes with rivers running through them. Buildings swept off their foundations. Appliances, personal belongings and business inventory submerged and destroyed. These scenes are common during floods. But there are steps to take to protect your property. It is less expensive to protect your property before it is damaged from a flood than to repair or replace it afterward.
What can you do to protect yourself from floods?
- Buy flood insurance
Nearly 25 percent of flood insurance claims come from properties considered to be at low or moderate risk of flooding. So, even if you do not live in a high-risk area, flood insurance is a good idea. Devastating floods in the United States cause more than $2 billion in property damage each year. Most homeowners and business insurance policies do not cover flood loss.
- Make changes to your house or property
How Does Mitigation Help?
Mitigation is the effort to reduce the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. A recent study by the Multihazard Mitigation Council shows that each dollar spent on mitigation saves an average of four dollars. FEMA’s Mitigation Directorate implements numerous Congressionally-authorized programs that address the effects of natural hazards through mitigation activities.
- What is Mitigation?
- Mitigation's Value to Society Fact Sheet
- HAZUS: FEMA’s Software Program for Estimating Potential Losses from Disasters
- Obtain hazard-specific documents on the FEMA Library
What kind of Federal Financial Assistance is there?
- Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program
- Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
- HMGP Fact Sheet
- Fact sheets on Additional Mitigation Programs and Activities
- Index of FEMA Grants and Assistance Programs
Flood-Related Best Practices
Communities all across the U.S. that have experienced flooding disasters have documented their recovery efforts and success to share with others in the form of best practices. Here is a sampling of these best practices related to flood recovery and flood insurance. Click here to search for additional best practices.
Flood Insurance related Best Practices
Last Modified: Tuesday, 17-Mar-2009 11:38:30 EDT
Fast Facts
Your disaster preparedness kit should include the following items:
- flashlight
- battery powered radio
- extra batteries
- water
- snack food
- matches
- First aid kit with pocket knife
- Necessary medications
- blanket(s)
- change of clothes
- important personal documents
- cash and credit cards
- family communications plan
If you are driving, do not try to cross a flooded road. Many flood-related deaths occur from cars swept away by floodwaters. Floodwaters move more quickly than you think, even at shallow depths