These Interactive Tools Show You the Future Risk of Flooding, Heat and Wind in Your Home
Floods are the costliest natural disaster in the United States, costing more than $1 trillion since 1980 (if inflation is taken into account), according to Flood Defenders . And while many people useFEMA flood maps to check if their home is at high risk of flooding, according to Scientific American , they are ten years out of date and don’t account for sea level rise . This is arguably the biggest flood risk most US coastal areas will face in the coming years. However, there are organizations that have stepped in where FEMA has faltered.
The following three organizations use cutting-edge technology and models to assess the flooding risk of most homes in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. They’ve created free, easy-to-use tools with up-to-date data to help you make informed decisions about the risk to your home, where to build or invest, how to prepare for future flooding, and how to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate. You just need to enter an address, county, city or state to find out how likely it is to flood and other environmental risks.
Seeking the risks of raging seas
The Rough Seas Risk Finder is a tool created by Climate Central to look a little more at the macro level rather than the micro level. It only shows coastal areas, but you get more than just a projection map. You can view data and reports on how rising sea levels and flooding will affect people, buildings, land, areas of pollution in the area, and infrastructure during storms and tides.
You just need to enter the coastal area you want to view into the search bar, either by zip code, county, city or state. A nice feature is the water level tool on the left, which you can move up and down to see how different sea level rise scenarios will affect the region.
The Risk Finder uses the latest sea level rise projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other scientific sources. Maps take into account factors such as melting ice sheets and glaciers, ocean warming, and changes in ocean currents. It also takes into account coastal topography, storm surges, and tide patterns to give you more accurate forecasts.
risk factor
The risk factor goes a little further than showing flood risks on your property. It also gives you information about wildfires, heat and wind risk. Flood Factor is a Risk Factor tool for floods. You must be able to locate any US property and obtain a detailed assessment of past, present and future environmental risks and mitigation solutions.
Once you enter a specific address into the search bar, you will get a rating out of 10, with 1 being the lowest risk, for each of the four environmental risks to your property. You can click on each of them for a more detailed report.
If you want to go even further, you can create an account to get more information about the cause of the risk and estimate the cost of damage and downtime for repairs.
You can read more information about the risk factor here .
ClimateCheck
Climate Check is a data analytics company that provides climate risk information to help insurance companies, developers, government agencies and you understand and manage the potential impacts of climate change on specific properties, cities and states. And they also give you more than just flood risk: they also analyze heat, rainfall, drought and fire in their report. Climate Check does not provide you with an interactive map, but you can email yourself a detailed report that is free to download. This report will have maps showing your risk for five extreme environmental events. The climate check analyzes the severity of each extreme event in the past and up to 2050 and provides a rating from 1 to 100 that determines how dangerous an area is.
It is important to note that these interactive tools are not designed to accurately predict flooding or sea level rise in a particular area. Rather, they are a tool that can help you understand the potential risks and impacts of sea level rise and flooding, and make better decisions and help you prepare.